An Arc of White Snowflakes
by Raenstorm Alaguiel
Summary: Jaune Arc arrives at Beacon with the expectation to get training to become the best Hunter he can be. What he gets, is that and much, much more. As Jaune makes new friends (and maybe a girlfriend?), he pushes himself, and others, to be the best they can be. One day, in the far future, something inside of Jaune will finally crack, and light will spill forth to slay the darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**A:N/ Hey guys. This is my first fic. so any and all feedback is appreciated and welcome. This is going to be a Romance adventure fic. The plot will not just be their romance, it will be a greater problem the RWBY cast had to face along with the romance. So, without further ado**

 **An Arc of White Snowflakes**

* * *

As Jaune Arc was standing in front of the bullhead about take him away from his home, he was contemplating three things: He was about to leave for Beacon, the most prestigious hunter training academy in all of Vale. Also, there was the very large possibility of him dying during or after his time at said academy. And what was the third thing he was thinking? Well he was thinking he was very much terrified of this monstrous contraption that they dared to use as the main mode of transport in Remnant

"Jaune, sweetie, you don't have to go you know," Jaune's mother said, clearly knowing about, and noticing,his discomfort of this particular mode of travel.

"W-what? I'm not afraid of this plane, I-I was just, uh, thinking about my new school. Yeah. I was totally not at all thinking about this bullhead and the way it flies and pitches and the way I immediately start to feel sick," Jaune said as he became visibly paler and paler. By this point Jaune's knees were shaking and it was all he could do to keep standing upright.

"Jaune for goodness sake, just get on the dust-darned plane," a gruffer voice stated.

"I know dad, it's just that I hate the fact tha-woah!" Jaune exclaimed as he was physically picked up by his dad and thrown on the plane. "Dad! Wait! You can't just leave me to this death trap! Mom, Dad, help, please! Ooooh," finished Jaune as the plane took off and he was instantaneously struck by the dreaded ailment of airsickness.

"Have a good time, Jaune!" That was Jaune's Mother

"Don't die," Aaand _that_ was his father

At this comment Jaune's mother gave her husband a look that would stop a boarbatusk in it's tracks

"Sorry," he replied meekly, "Couldn't help myself."

* * *

 _Well this is just perfect,_ Jaune thought as he almost puked yet again and had to go back to concentrating on _not_ releasing his breakfast contents for all the world to see. First, he has to leave for a brand new school. Second, he had never stayed away from home for any extended period of time, so this was new to him also. Third, he was freaking _puking in a trashcan!_ Strangely enough, everybody seemed to avoid looking at Jaune, something for which he was grateful for, even if it proved to be a bit awkward. _Anyway, we'll be at Beacon soon anyway and I can leave this dust-forsaken contraption behind._ This was the one and only thought that kept Jaune on the plane and not out through the side doors. As Jaune was thinking about his current predicament he noticed a small red and black blob appear at the edge of his vision. Jaune was extremely surprised when the blob seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and started talking to him in a rapid fire pace.

"Heyareyouokay?Mysisterwantsmetobesocialbutidontwanttobutshesforcingmetotalktopeopleandyouweretheonlypersonherewhowasntscarybutistillhatetalkingtopeoplebutididitanywaybecauseimgrownup becauseidrink _milk_!" This was all said in one breath, with no interruption. Which rather scared Jaune because he thought this person was going to pass out. However, before he could show his concern, the ship started to descend and, once again, Jaune had his head in the trash can.

"OhmygoshumthatsalittlegrosssoimgoingtoleavenowIhopeyoufeelbetterbye!" the figure once again fired off as it disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. Immediately afterwards, a woman appeared on the projection board in the it was, Jaune was too busy examining his breakfast to pay attention to the person who appeared on it. As the bull head _finally_ hit the sweet, sweet ground, Jaune all but jumped up and ran out of the plane, fully prepared to lay down and kiss the ground, not caring how many saw it. This plan was interrupted, all reminders of airsickness gone, by the enormous gray and white steeples, beautiful courtyards, and the astounding lights of the tower that gave the school it's name: Beacon Academy.

* * *

 _Okay, you can do this. Just… act like a Schnee and everybody will respect you. This is no different from any of those horrible social functions that father made you go to._ These were the thoughts that were running through the Schnee Heiress' head before a friendly hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Weiss," said a boy who was standing nearby. He was dressed in all green with black accents and, were those pink cuffs? He had long black hair with the exception of a single pink streak down the left side of his head, near the front.

"Thank you, Mr. Lie. Although, I do _not_ need calming down. I am perfectly fine, thank you very much." Weiss was dressed in an all white bolero with red lining on the inside and a white skirt. "Combat Skirt!" A voice, coming from a petite girl in red, called from the distance.

"Weiss," the boy, said again, " This is not a fancy occasion, you can call me Ren, and you _do_ need to calm down. You do not need to be 'Ms. Schnee' here, you do not need to be 'The Heiress' here. In fact, here, you could take this chance to have people get to know you as simply 'Weiss'."

Weiss took a deep breath and then let it go. It seemed to physically relax her, and the tension visibly drained from her shoulders. "I know, Ren. It's just that I'm used to having to uphold the "Schnee name" everywhere I go. I guess I could try to be a little… nicer."

"Just be yourself, Weiss. You won't get that chance at home. Now I'm going to go find Nora before she breaks anything... else." Ren sighed, not even wanting to think about all of the trouble Nora could've gotten into in his absence, "See ya, Weiss. Remember, just be you."

"Have a good aft-I mean, goodbye Ren. And thank you," Weiss said with the barest traces of a smile gracing her pale but beautiful face.

As the long haired boy walked away he saw a red blur zip past him and collide with Weiss. The moment Weiss got up, all his work was gone, she was back to being the princess. Ren sighed, but walked away, knowing that Weiss could only change if she alone worked at it. _C'mon, Weiss just be who you want to be, not the heiress your father made you to be._

* * *

As Ruby zipped through Beacon, trying to find her sister, who had-of course-abandoned her, she couldn't help but marvel at all the splendid creations people had brought as weapons. Of course, none could compare to her weapon of choice, her sweetheart, Crescent Rose. Crescent Rose was a wonder of weapon smithing and engineering. The Scythe and High Impact Sniper Rifle hybrid (Snythle?) had three different forms. A fully extended form where the blade is extended so she could interchangeably slice with the blade and shoot the gun. There is an unextended form where she is only able to shoot the sniper. And finally, the fully compact form made it all about the size of a loaf of bread. In it's fully compacted form it could be stored under her cloak with ease. With all these thoughts about 'her beloved' running through her head, she didn't notice the white form in her path until it was too late.

"Ahh!" Weiss screeched as she was bowled over by the red speed demon. "Watch where you're going you dolt!"

"I'mreallysorry, IwasjustrunningandthinkingaboutstuffandthenIjustranintoyou!" Ruby said as she, again, motormouthed through her words.

"Do you even know who I _am_? Or what's in my luggage that you just knocked over with your reckless behavior?" Weiss demanded.

"I-er-no?"

" _Well_ , I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. We are Remnant's largest manufacturer and producer of Dust. This," Weiss stated proudly, brandishing a vial of dust in Ruby's face, "is the highest quality fire Dust crystal the SDC can offer."

Ruby noticed an almost imperceptible amount of Dust leaking out of the vial Weiss had shoved in her face. "Ah, er, Weiss, was it?" Ruby tried to interject, but couldn't due to the Heiress rambling on about the SDC and dust safety precautions. When Ruby tried to get her attention again, the powder landed on her nose and she immediately let out a huge-

 ***Ach-ooo!***

Immediately, there was an explosion that raised a huge dust cloud, and caused the crowd that had gathered to avert their eyes. When the dust settled and everyone had seen what'd happened, they all, as one group, started to back away, and then began to run. Unlike Ruby, the other students knew exactly what would happen if someone angered any Schnee, much less the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.

As Ruby woozily looked up from the eagle-spread position she found herself in, she noticed a peculiar noise, or rather, the lack of one. Every single person in the courtyard was, well, no longer in the courtyard. However, she did notice a chill, which was odd because she had just exploded, right? She should've been nice and toasty. Ruby wondered what had happened to... er...Weiss? Was it? So she quickly turned around and froze in shock.

When Ruby had sneezed, it had ignited the vial of fire Dust in Weiss' hand. That vial had, in turn, activated every other vial of dust in Weiss' suitcase. The same suitcase that just so happened to contain copious amounts of ice dust. So there Ruby stood, frozen in shock and awe, in front of a huge ice spire, reaching almost as tall as a house and also contained one slightly frozen, but _very_ enraged heiress.

After Jaune had recovered from the shock of _actually_ being at Beacon (and after getting up off of the ground) he headed over to a group of girls to pull some of his _smooth moves_. He hadn't made it more than five feet towards his targets when a huge explosion, and then an ice spire, blossomed off to his left. As everybody ran away, Jaune figured that it must be a sign from the gods that he was never going to get a girl. These thoughts in his head ran to an abrupt halt when he noticed the white figure in the ice spike.

Jaune was astounded by the beauty and simplicity of the girl in front of him. While she was wearing a small tiara, the rest of her outfit was relatively simple. However, the simplicity of the outfit did not detract from her beauty at all. Instead, it complemented, and augmented it.

He was quickly snapped out of his musings when he noticed a red haired and red clad girl quickly race off. He absently noted that she was the speed talking girl from the bullhead. It was extremely amusing to see that the speed of her mouth matched the speed of her feet.

Jaune, once again, was once again torn from his inner thoughts by muffled noises from the white haired girl trapped in the ice. Jaune, being the upstanding soon-to-be-huntsman that he was, was determined to get the poor girl out of the ice. He started towards the pillar and notice that the girl inside was absolutely _fuming._ It was a wonder that she didn't just melt straight through her prison. Since he figured that it was highly improbable that she was actually going to melt her way out, he stepped up to the spire and charged up his aura. He channeled a large amount of energy into his hands and then held them up to the tower. He slowly, in a broad radius, released the stored up aura in such a way that it slowly melted through the ice.

Weiss slowly emerged from her ice-like cocoon and fell on the ground shivering. From her five or so minutes in the sub-zero temperatures, she was a little the worse for wear. Weiss, for the life of her, couldn't pull herself together. _Ah, crap. There's no way I can have people seeing me, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the SDC, in this horrible state. I-_! Weiss' thoughts were quickly interrupted as Jaune, without hesitation and, despite the cold still lingering in the air, swiftly pulled of his black hoodie and put it around Weiss shoulders. Weiss was extremely startled by this unexpected display of kindness from him, even if he had just gotten her unstuck.

"Are you ok?" Jaune asked nervously, still a little unsure around this pretty girl he just met.

"I… yes. Thank you," Weiss replied, her usual cold demeanor discarded because of her fatigue and the kindness of this stranger.

"Jaune, Jaune Arc," he said as he held out a hand to Weiss.

"Wei-" "Weiss Schnee, I know," Jaune interrupted genially, as Weiss took his help getting up, "I-er, I kinda heard you yelling at that other girl before everything… happened."

"Yes, well again, thank you," Weiss replied, back in her, not rude, but still professional manner. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going to make a call to replace all this dust that speed demon ruined."

With this, Weiss gathered up her now scorched luggage and marched off in the direction of... Jaune had no idea. Jaune, now having no idea of where to go and no one to help him, simply wandered off aimlessly, hoping to find some clue as to where he was supposed to go.

 _Well,_ Jaune thought with a slightly amused smile forming on his face, _If everyday is going to be this dynamic, this will make for a_ very _interesting four years…_

* * *

 **A:N/ Hope you guys enjoyed. Like I said, feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the slow update. I am a horribly human being, but now that school's over, I should be able to update more often. Now, before I forget, I just want to give you guys a heads up. Jaune is not a wimp in this fic. I'm going to try to keep his personality while still making him as strong as everyone else. Oh, and thanks to all the people who gave reviews. The feedback was greatly appreciated.**

 **Ch. 1 has received a small update; just grammar and a few descriptive issues. Nothing major**

* * *

 _Oooh, I'm going to_ kill _Yang for just ditching me and now I have absolutely_ no _clue on where to go. I'm going to get lost, miss the opening speech, and get in major trouble, all on my first day!_

One Ruby Rose was current zipping around the Beacon campus trying desperately to find the auditorium. Her sister had cruelly abandoned her and as a result, had ticked off a heiress of a multi-billion lien company. She had simply did what she always did when confronted with an uncomfortable situation, she ran away at speeds not normal for a human being. Five minutes after freezing said heiress, she was _still_ running around the school, trying to find where the _heck_ she was supposed to be.

As mad and as worried as Ruby was, she didn't notice that her path abruptly cut off and a park began. So she naïvely charged ahead and face planted over a bench. After a moment, Ruby flipped over onto her back and decided to just lie there. _I'm just going to lay here,_ Ruby thought, _I'm going to die here, and nobody will ever find me in this maze of a school._ So Ruby was extremely surprised when a brown, fingerless gloved hand appeared in her vision.

"Hey," Jaune started, " I couldn't help but notice you sprinting around. All of a sudden I blinked, and you ended up having an intimate moment with the ground." Jaune smiled as he saw Ruby's face go red in embarrassment. "I'm Jaune, what's your name?"

"Ruby Rose," she said as she took his hand and stood up, "weren't you the person throwing up on the bullhead earlier?

Jaune sighed in exasperation, resigned to the fact that he would now be known as 'Vomit Boy' "Thanks, crater-face. I was trying to forget about how embarrassing _that_ was, but _nooo_ , you just had to go and remind me of how everybody was watching me throw up on a plane."

"Crater face?!" exclaimed Ruby, incredulously, "I don't have a single pimple. At least I don't think." Ruby started scrunching up her face trying to see if she had any zits on, well, her face. (It didn't work out too well.)

Jaune was quick to assure her she was fine. "That, however," Jaune said, pointing to the ground behind her, "might pose a bit of a problem to Beacon's landscapers."

Ruby turned around in confusion before spotting the two foot long furrow she had made in the ground when she tripped over the bench. As her face turned a red that almost approached the color of the cloak she was wearing, she quickly turned around and pointed at Jaune accusingly. "Oh yeah, well at least I can hold my lunch, Vomit boy." Ruby exclaimed as she childishly stuck her tongue out towards said Vomit boy.

"Really creative, Ruby," Jaune said dismissing her immature remark, "What are you doing here anyway? Just decided to take a _sprint_ around Beacon?"

" _No_ , I was actually trying to find the…Ah crapcrapcrap! I was trying to find the auditorium where we were supposed to meet! Let'sgo!We'regoingtobe _so_ lateandit'sonlyourfirstday!"

Ruby attached herself to Jaune's arm, yelled "Hold on!", and, before Jaune could even breathe, took off across the campus with Jaune flailing behind her in the wind.

After Jaune had substantially recovered from throwing up, _again_ (turns out Ruby is a dustplane, who knew?), they tried to quietly sneak into the auditorium. It didn't work too well.

All of a sudden, a blonde beauty ran up and absolutely crushed Ruby's head in a bear hug.

"Ruby! Where were you? I was soooo worried! I mean-"

"Yang... air..." Ruby managed to wheeze out. Yang released her from the 'loving hug' she was giving the red clad girl. While Ruby recovered her breath (and composure), Jaune turned and introduced himself to Yang. His 'Hi, I'm Jaune' was quickly turned into a 'Hiii-aaaghck!' as Yang threw an arm around his shoulder, almost starving him from air in the process. _Seems to be a specialty of hers,_ Jaune thought while he was furiously trying to escape the choke hold and breathe again.

"Soooo, how'd ya meet little Rubes, here?" Yang questioned Jaune. Jaune turned to look and her and started in shock. In her eyes was what looked to Jaune like a small, dark glimmer of danger in her eyes. In his state of shock he quickly blinked, and it was gone. _Maybe I just imagined the whole thing._

Yang misinterpreted Jaune's silence, "You weren't stalking her, were you?" With suspicion turning into anger in her eyes, Jaune couldn't squeak out a word in his defense. Yang pulled her now gauntlet covered fist back to end him. _Where did that come from!?_ Jaune exclaimed internally, shocked. Jaune closed his eyes and waited for the end.

 **Clang!**

Jaune slowly opened his eyes and was extremely surprised to see the largest weapon he had ever seen planted buisness end first at his feet.

"Yaaang! You can't just kill my friends! They're kinda important!"

"Wait, Ruby, you made a friend!?" Yang crushed Ruby into (another) 'loving hug' all the while shaking Ruby around like a ragdoll. Jaune however was crouching and ducking for his life trying to avoid the giant... scythe?...that was now spinning around the room. Yang, released Ruby and Jaune could finally stop moving. He utilized his new liberty to not move by promptly falling face first onto the ground. In the middle of the auditorium.

"Ohmigosh, Jaune! Are you okay? I don't wanna kill my first friend! Yaaang!"

Jaune sat up slowly in weariness, rubbing his head. "Ruby, I'm fine", he replied. "Just tell me where in the world that giant red monstrosity came from." Jaune was now referring to the giant...thing... that Ruby had intentionally almost decapitated him with. Unbeknownst to Jaune, Ruby prized said 'thing' quite highly, and, to her, this was a grave insult. Jaune turned to look at Ruby and immediately regretted his comment towards her weapon. Ruby had turned and given him a 'look'. But this was no ordinary 'look'. This was the 'teary-eyed puppy-dog look', so to Jaune it felt like he had just kicked a puppy and then shot it in the knee.

Jaune instantly caved to the guilt and apologized, saying, "Ruby, I'm _so_ sorry! I didn't realize how much Crescent Rose meant to you." Jaune knelt down and looked Ruby, who was now sitting on the floor, head down, in the eyes. "Please" Jaune half-whispered, "can you forgive me?"

Ruby's eyes slowly met Jaune's and she sniffled before wiping her nose with her large cloak, which she slowly unwrapped from around her body. She solemnly looked into his eyes and seemed to consider it, before a smile slowly spread back across her face and she let out a cheerful, affirmative "Yep!"

"Oh, thank dust!" Jaune said, relieved as he stood up, along with the now beaming reaper, "My mom would have killed me if I actually managed to befriend, and then ostracize, the first person I actually met at Beacon."

Unbeknownst to Jaune, while his little apology was going on, Yang was recording the entire thing. She couldn't believe how cute and innocent her little sister could look when sad. And to her, Jaune played the gently-apologetic part to perfection! This was almost as cute as the time two-year-old Ruby found her uncle Qrow's cloak and walked around with it draped all over her for an entire week. Yang quickly saved the video under a file in her scroll labeled 'Cute Ruby Moments', before returning her attention back to the still oblivious pair. "So," she addressed them, startling them out of their little moment, "Now that a "Ruby Crisis" has successfully been averted, we should probably pay attention to this semi-important looking dude coming out onto the stage."

Sure enough, there was indeed someone coming out onto the stage. Jaune immediately recognized him as Ozpin...somebody. Jaune _assumed_ he had a last name, he just didn't know it. Apparently nobody did either, as, everybody he asked either told him they didn't know, or he was answered with a 'How the heck did you get in here!'. Anyway, Ozpin walked onto the stage and stood at the podium to deliver his opening speech to the students, before they got a night's sleep before initiation. He began,

"Students, I look out into this crowd and I see wasted potential. However, this potential for greatness is not lost to anyone; I see the aptitude to become great in every single one of you. That being said, I expect the highest level of dedication and application to your time at this school. This school has trained some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses in history, and this year will be no different. All of you students will become the best you can hope to be, ready to face whatever life may throw at you. Remember this, life is precious. Therefore, we do not train to attack what we hate, no, we train to defend what is most precious to us. That is the way of the Huntsman. In all of your training, whatever you do, remember this." Ozpin finished his little speech solemnly before once again commenting to the student body, "Now, I believe Prof- err _Doctor_ Oobleck has a few words for you.

At this, a green blur rushed out from behind the curtains on the side of the stadium, and up to the podium. He was a relatively tall man wearing a white dress shirt, round, wire frame spectacles, and strikingly odd green hair. He raised the mounted microphone and cleared his throat. "Hr-Hem. Yes, I do have a few words for you, four to be exact. Those words are: Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak. Thank you. I do think that Ms. Goodwitch would like to inform you of some things. Thank you." And with that, he rushed back behind that curtains at speed which even Ruby thought was inhuman. And that was saying something.

Out walked a woman with with long, blonde hair tied up in a bun, with a short braid down the right side of her face. She was wearing long, black pants and a feminine, white dress shirt. She also had on a cloak with a ragged end that was black on the outside and purple on the inside. Upon her face sat a pair of sideways, ovular glasses. She turned to speak to the crowd and silenced the now buzzing students with a single look.

"Now that I have your attention," she began, "I am Ms. Glynda Goodwitch. I am the Deputy Headmistress at this school, so you will give me the respect that is appointed to me. The same goes with all of the other teachers. Now, I need to inform you of how the rest of today and tomorrow is going to work. Tonight, you will all gather in the rec hall, which, for tonight, will be your sleeping quarters. I expect there to be no trouble, _especially_ concerning boys and girls sleeping together in the same room." At this, she gave the entire room her hardest glare yet. She let it linger for a few seconds, before returning to her speech. "Breakfast will be served from eight to eight thirty _only_. Whether or not you get up in time to eat it is up to you. However, every single one of you _will_ be at the cliffs for initiation at nine o'clock sharp. Failure to do so will result in immediate expulsion from Beacon Academy. You will need all of your arms and armor at the cliffs, so arrive prepared. You will receive further instructions there. That will be all for right now. You are all dismissed to go to the rec hall. Curfew is at ten o'clock. No exceptions. Thank you." Ms. Goodwitch finished her speech, and stood off to the side of the stage as she watched the students file out.

"Eight"

Glynda looked off to her left to see Ozpin standing there taking a sip from his coffee mug.

* * *

The Darkness looked out over its domain and smiled in evil satisfaction. It had finally destroyed the last shreds of resistance. The final insect that was squashed was an annoyingly quick white cloaked bug, with those cursed silver eyes. However, once that one had been taken care of, the rest of his opposition had disappeared.

Unbeknownst to The Darkness, eight small, but growing, lights had appeared on the horizon. The plethora of different colored lights were slowly approaching The Darkness. If one looked closely, one could see that each light was, in fact, actually two lights of the same color that made up one light. These were the last of the Twin Lights, the last lights to be able to take down The Darkness.

The Twin Lights were small, but they had the power to grow to legendary proportions.

They were approaching. And after so many millenia,

So was the final battle.

* * *

A dark haired girl sat in a corner, reading a book. She was wearing a simple black yukata with a white trim while on her head sat a large, black bow. She had striking yellow eyes and long black hair. She looked up from her hobby to observe those around her. In one corner, a boisterous blonde was playfully teasing a little black and red haired girl. It looked like they knew each other very well, the way they were so comfortable just messing around together. She assumed they were childhood friends, because there was no way that they were related. Their differences were way too pronounced. There was no way they were twins; they looked nothing alike. And they would've had to be twins to be related because they were both freshmen...er...women?...like her.

She drew her attention to another pair horsing around near the only door to the room. Well, one half of the pair was horsing around. The seemingly hyper ginger haired girl was running around the stoic, black haired boy spouting words at a ridiculous speed. However, even from all the way across the room, she could barely make out the word 'pancakes'. Again, there could be no relation between the two for the same reasons as the blonde and black/red haired pair.

Once again she shifted her attention, this time to occupants she knew a little better. One of them was the illustrious Pyrrha Nikos. A famed warrior for her many outstanding combat and tournament achievements, she was surprised to see her in a combat school. Pyrrha was already a fabulous fighter and had a sponsorship deal with some food company. She couldn't find any reason that Pyrrha would want to be a huntress. Her curious gaze left the champion and settled on another famed huntress-to-be.

This person, however, received, instead of a soft approving appraisal, a cold judgmental glare. She knew _this_ person. It was none other than Weiss Schnee, heiress to The Schnee Dust Company: one of the largest producers of dust in the world... The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners. She despised her, if only for what she represented: the success of the wealthy on the backs of the poor. Here this princess was attending Beacon on what was probably her weekly allowance, while countless workers, probably faunus, slaved away so she could.

She removed her attention from the heiress as she noticed a scraggly blonde-haired boy walk into the room and look around. She was stopped from further inquiry by the voice that suddenly spoke in front of her. While she had been observing the new boy, the blonde and red haired girl had come up in front of her. She regarded them cooly and, while she was hoping they would just go away,she asked, "May I help you?"

"Hi. I'm Yang." The blonde, now Yang, introduced herself with a grin on her face and enthusiasm radiating from her. "And this is my little sis' Ruby." Yang introduced the shorter red haired girl.

"Blake" she stated, surprised that her guess was wrong and they were indeed related. She supposed the semantics didn't really matter anyway.

"Watcha' doin'?" Yang asked.

"Well, I _was_ reading." Blake said with just the tiniest bit of sarcasm, hoping that they would get the hint and go away.

"What's it about?" Blake was startled to note that the question had, this time, come from the seemingly shy Ruby. She was also surprised because nobody had ever actually questioned what her book was about, this was the first time.

"Well," Blake started, "It's about a man with two souls. However, the souls aren't at war with each other, rather, they complement each other."

"Well, that sounds...interesting." Ruby replied. She really wasn't good with people. "Anyway, I hope you have fun reading it," Ruby continued "We'll leave you alone, C'mon Yang." Ruby walked away. Yang turned around and winked at Blake before following her sister back over to their sleeping spot.

Blake settled back down in her book before seeming to recall a large crashing noise right as Yang and Ruby walked up to her. She shrugged before going back to her book, it probably wasn't that important anyway.

* * *

When Jaune Arc walked into the rec. room he did not expect to be assaulted with a pillow, much less thrown back through the doorway, and into the hallway. Did I say doorway? I meant the actual _door_. Jaune had walked into the room and the first thing he heard was 'Look out, Renny~!', before he got a face full of pillow. Jaune slowly staggered upright and lurched back through the now Jaune shaped hole in the door. He looked up and was greeted to the sight of a boy reaching his hand down to him. Jaune took it gratefully and stood up. The boy was wearing a green robe with black accents. He had long, black hair tied up in a ponytail with a pink streak in his hair on the left side of his bangs. As Jaune stood up he noticed a slightly abashed ginger haired girl standing off to the side. She was trying very hard, and failing, to hide a beowolf shaped pillow-pet behind her back.

"Hehe…sorry!" The girl chirped before running around the room at what seemed like mach 1.

"Don't mind her." Jaune turned his head to look back at the boy and he continued "I'm very sorry about her. She's just extremely full of energy. I would've blocked the pillow if I had known you were behind me."

"It's okay," Jaune replied "I'm not seriously hurt, although, I can't say the same about the door."

The boy looked over at the door and sighed. "Yes, broken things are not uncommon when you know Nora. Oh, that girl was Nora. I'm Ren."

Jaune shook Ren's hand. After reassuring Ren that he had received no harm, and after he helped him wrangle in Nora, he went to look for a place to sleep. _Hmm, welp, it looks like I don't know anyone here. Oh, look! Isn't that Ruby?_ Jaune walked over to Ruby and asked if he could sleep with them. After a hasty reassurance to Yang that that was _not_ what he meant when he said 'sleep with them',he was told that, sorry, but there was no room. Yang was saving space for her friends. Jaune wandered off and suddenly noticed Weiss in a corner all by herself. He walked over and started up a conversation.

"Hey, Weiss. Fancy meeting you here." Jaune was not very good at acting nonchalant.

Weiss looked up, unamused. "Oh, it's just you. And where else would I be? Am I not a student here? Is there somewhere else that I could possibly sleep other than the designated sleeping space?" Weiss fired of one rhetoric question after another until Jaune literally fell over. Jaune slowly got to his feet, looking confused.

"Weren't you, like, nice or something earlier?" 'Cause I coulda sworn that this is not the nice snow angel that I rescued from that ice pillar earlier."

Weiss looked affronted and immediately answered his question, albeit with a little more sass than before. "Excuse you! I can be nice when I want to and now is clearly not one of those times. Second, you simply caught me in a moment of weakness earlier. That is why you received the treatment you did. And third, snow angel? Really? You have no right to give me a nickname and I refuse to be addressed as such."

"Well, I'm sorry _snow angel_." Jaune replied with enough spice to equal Weiss'

Weiss looked like she was about to go off on Jaune, but she caught the smirk on his face and closed her mouth.

"So, is it alright if I sleep over here? There's no room anywhere else."

Weiss looked around the room before reluctantly agreeing to allow him the privilege of sleeping next to her. She moved her sleeping stuff over, allowing Jaune enough room to put his own sleeping bag down. He laid down with his back to Weiss and immediately went to sleep.

Weiss looked at his sleeping form for a little while before she, herself, went to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed. So there was only one reference this time (I want to try to include at least two references in each chapter, so look for those). It's a relatively easy one, so anyone who guesses it right gets one picture from Yang's 'Cute Ruby Moments' photos. Good Luck**

 **Any and all feedback is appreciated and I would love to have feedback from every single person who reads this.**

 **So, who is The Darkness? Where did It come from? Who or what are the eight 'Twin Lights'? Find out next time...on Total! Drama! Island!**

 **Oh, and because I'm crap at updating, here's a bonus/sneak peak for you guys.**

 **file/d/0BwRU4vJHaE-rdHBfNUhSd0EtQWNhM19leDBZWVlWZkFqMHBF/view?usp=sharing**

 **That link didn't end up working so I put it on my profile bio. Check it out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: First of all, thank you to all of you who read and reviewed my story.**

 **Second, a response to an anonymous reviewer and maybe a clarification to the rest of you: I did not intend to rush Weiss and Jaune's relationship. I realized that, in the first chapter, Weiss did not match her starting personality.**

 **I tried to remedy that in the second chapter and list a reason why Weiss acted the way she did.**

 **Third, I shouldn't have to say this, but I do not own RWBY. That privilege belongs to Rooster Teeth.**

 **Fourth(I know, this is long): Sorry for the super long delay of update. This one should be a more action packed chapter to make up for it though.**

 **Warning! This was not Beta'd, so feel free to PM or review me any mistakes.**

 **Thanks for continuing to read, guys. (Colloquially, I know not all of you are guys.**

* * *

Jaune was having a nice dream. It consisted of him walking through a house. He presumed it was his. He could see a couple children running around. His wife was up in their room reading. It was a lovely picture. Except all he could hear was one sound.

"Jaaaauuuunnne~. You need to wake uuuuup~"

He ran through the house, trying to find the noise and stop it. But he still heard "Jaaaauuuunnne~. You need to wake uuuuup~" He couldn't seem to stop the noise!

Finally, it stopped and he sighed a sound of relief. Then, he heard another voice.

"Step aside, sis, I'll take care of it"

 **SHCK-SHCK**

 **BOOM!**

Jaune jolted awake with a quick sit-up, head butting Ruby in the process. Jaune looked to his left to see a smoking crater and immediately put two and two together.

"Yang! What the heck was that for." He looked up to see Yang looking at him with a nonchalant expression on her face and two yellow gauntlets on her wrists. One of which was smoking.

"Well, Ruby didn't want you to be late for initiation, and her method wasn't working, so I decided to help."

Jaune looked at Yang skeptically. "And your 'help' was almost blowing my head off?"

"Yep!"

"Oooough. That hurt," Ruby moaned from her eagle spread position on the floor. "Jaune you really should get ready, Initiation starts in, like, fifteen minutes."

Jaune's eyes widened at the last statement. He got up, grabbed his clothes, and ran to the bathroom in about a minute.

"Ya know, Rubes, I think he was faster than you are.

* * *

Jaune walked into the locker room, and stood stupefied at the sheer number of lockers there were. He could have sworn that there weren't this many yesterday. "Six thirty-six...six thirty-six. Where are you?" Jaune muttered under his breath as he searched for his locker. He had found his locker in, like, two seconds yesterday. Why in the world could he not find it now?

"Oh, look who decided to make what is sure to be a pathetic attempt at initiation."

Jaune looked over at the familiar voice. He located Weiss and fired back an ingenious retort, "No, YOU'RE going to be pathetic at initiation." Okay, maybe he wasn't so good in the comeback department.

"Hmph, Schnee's never do anything except exceptional."

"Cool, well, I don't have time to exchange witty banter. Do you know where locker six thirty-six is?"

Weiss didn't even deign to answer his question. She just gave him a look and he got the message right away.

"Ok. Well I'll see ya around" Jaune walked away

"Hello there.

Weiss turned around and she couldn't believe her eyes. Pyrrha Nikos was here! Talking to her!

Weiss cleared her throat. "Ahem. He's nobody important. You, however, are Pyrrha Nikos. I'm so excited that you decided to attend Beacon with me!"

Pyrrha frowned slightly at Weiss' dismissal of the young man. She then out on her performance smile. "I'm glad I was able to attend, as well," she replied.

Weiss started, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself, I'm We-"

"Weiss Schnee."

Both Weiss and Pyrrha whipped around, startled by the voice. They found a black clad, haired, and bowed girl standing next to them. She continued, "Heiress to the Schnee Corporation and Lineage. The same company accused, but acquitted, several times of breaking multiple points of the Faunus Labor Laws. Even those trials were questionable, though."

Weiss bristled at the accusations to her family."How dare you try and slander my name! Especially in present company! Do you know who this is?!" Weiss stated dramatically, gesturing to Pyrrha. "This" she continued, "is Pyrrha Nikos, four time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament."

Pyrrha frowned slightly as Weiss displayed her. However, her frown lessened a bit when the mysterious girl simply gave Weiss a deadpan look and a sarcastic, but not unkind, "Well that's fantastic." in response. Furthermore, she actually smiled as Weiss started sputtering indignantly at the stoic girl. As the black haired girl walked away, she tossed two words over her shoulder, "Blake Belladonna." As Pyrrha watched her retreating form, she mentally reminded herself to remember Blake.

Weiss back around and Pyrrha had to hastily rearrange her facial features so as to not ignite the apparently short-tempered girl.

"Can you believe that?! The nerve of that girl! Ugh!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yes, she was quite...interesting." Pyrrha replied, noncommittally, all the while holding back a small smile.

"Yes, well, now that that little intrusion is over, I think it's time to get down to business. Pyrrha Nikos" Weiss stated dramatically, "would you like to team up with me, Weiss Schnee?"

Pyrrha was slightly taken aback by the proposition Weiss had just made. As she thought it over, Blake's dismissal of her fame popped into her head. With that thought in mind she replied to Weiss' offer. "I was just going to let the chips fall where they may. Now, I must get ready. I look forward to seeing you at initiation." And with that, Pyrrha walked away. All Weiss could think of was why in the world Pyrrha didn't want to be partnered with her, the rich, talented, beautiful, (and humble?) Weiss Schnee.

* * *

Jaune was starting to enjoy Beacon. Everything was extremely enjoyable, save the Ice Queen. Literally and figuratively. There was just one other problem. Why in the world were bullhead's used for everything?! So, apparently, the point of doing initiation in this fashion was to test if the students were capable of finding a location while having to get their bearings on where they were. That is why Jaune was, at that moment, flying to Oum knows where in a windowless flying death contraption.

Jaune thought that there might have been some sort of pre-initiation speech from Headmaster Ozpin, but all that Jaune could remember, with his stomach staging a violent rebellion, was Ozpin's ending words: "Don't worry. The fall won't kill you. It'll be the sudden stop at the end." Jaune could still remember the smug look the headmaster was showing as he sipped his coffee mug.

As Jaune fished his head out of his remembrances, he suddenly noticed that he was no longer motion sick. He then came to a sobering realization. The only reason he could no longer be motion sick was if he was no longer in a vehicle. If he wasn't in a vehicle, then he must be falling. He looked down, and, sure enough, he was about five hundred feet above a forest. With such a short time until landing, he only had one option. He started to concentrate and a white glow slowly started to outline his body. Soon, all you could see was a white cocoon descending into the canopy. Welp. I hope this works, Jaune thought.

Booom!

Jaune landed with an explosion of aura and debris. A white shockwave spread from the collision site. As Jaune regained his wits, he took a look around. All around him were the dissolving corpses of a pack of beowolves. Jaune had created a small clearing upon landing, but beyond that was a relatively dense oak forest on all sides. Jaune had no idea where his objective was so he came up with an idea that no one had ever thought of before.

"Well, since I have absolutely no clue where to go, I'm gonna climb this tree."

Ok, so, maybe Jaune wasn't quite the original thinker. Either way, it still worked. Jaune slowly made it to the top of the tree. As he reached the top, he scanned the forest. To the east he spied a large clearing with what seemed to be a stone spire, barely peaking over the tops of the trees.

Jaune was torn from his sightseeing by the sound of steel grating against bone plating. Jaune jumped down from the tree and raced towards the sound. He arrived in yet another small clearing, this one natural. He saw an abnormally large pack of beowolves, along with two Ursai. He couldn't however, find the fighter they were attracted to. Finally the blur stopped and he could finally see who the fighter was.

Weiss Schnee.

Jaune was just about to turn away and try to find a different partner. He didn't really want to be stuck with her attitude for four years. Just as he turned around, he noticed a beowolf quietly sneaking around behind the heiress. Weiss was too busy trying to fend of the large swings of an Ursa with her rapier. The swings were too large to block outright, so she had to do her best to deflect the attacks. This took all of her concentration, and, as a consequence, didn't notice the solitary beowolf behind her. Just as the beowolf pounced Jaune made his decision.

 **Clang!**

Weiss was extremely startled by the loud clash of metal and claws behind her. She jumped back from the Ursa to reassess the situation. She looked behind her and was surprised by the presence of the blonde hunter-in-training defending her back from the lone adversary. Jaune had taken the blow meant for Weiss straight on his shield, his body open to the right and his sword back in his right hand.

Jaune swung the claws of the beowolf off of his shield by swinging his shield to the left, while bringing his right arm around, spinning his entire body to the left. His spin left the beowolf's claws up in the air, and it wide open for a counter. He used his spinning momentum to easily decapitate the lone wolf. At this point, Jaune turned to see how Weiss was doing. He met her eyes briefly, the he lurched into action with panic in his eyes.

He lunged towards the surprised heiress, and then past her. Weiss turned around just in time to see Jaune take, full on, a swing from the forgotten Ursa that was meant for her. Weiss just stood there in shock as Jaune was flung against a tree. Weiss immediately switched into instinct mode at the surprise attack. She backflipped away from an overhead swing by the Ursa, and started running to the right.. As she skirted around the bear-like Grimm, she switched the revolving chamber to ice dust. She jumped up onto a glyph, perpendicular to the ground, and launched herself in a line at the three remaining beowolves. She flew slightly to the left of them, and, as she passed, she touched each one with her rapier. The beowolves quickly froze over, ice spreading from the point of contact. When she passed the third beowolf, she quickly flipped around and landed on another glyph, propelling herself back towards the line of now frozen Grimm. This time, however, Weiss hit the line of beowolves right in the center, spinning like a drill right through them.

She came to a stop and suddenly jumped back with a glyph under her feet. A second later, the claws of the still standing Ursa came crashing down to where she had been a second earlier. The Ursa let out an enormous roar before charging at the white fighter. As the Grimm approached, Weiss readied a large, rotating glyph in front of her to use as a shield. Immediately after she completed her glyph, the large claws of the the Ursa descended into a two handed overhead smash against Weiss' makeshift shield.

Weiss' glyphs were impressive. They could give speed boosts, elamentalize projectiles, and even change people's perception of time, allowing them to think and move faster. The glyphs could also be used as barriers and platforms. However, while her glyphs were capable of being used as barriers, they weren't strong enough to take a thousand pounds of force.

The Ursa landed a blow that pounded into the glyph like a sledgehammer, and a loud thud reverberated throughout the woods. Weiss' defensive glyph quickly cracked, and then shattered, blowing her backwards with the resulting shock wave. Weiss slowly climbed to her feet and looked around frantically for Myrtenaster, which had been sent flying during her tumble. The ursa, now seeing the small nuisance defenseless, slowly advanced forwards on all fours, growling lightly. Weiss fearfully backed away until she felt the rough bark of a tree against her back.

The bear-like Grimm was now mere feet from where Weiss was cornered against the tree. She didn't understand how a simple thing like initiation could have gone so wrong. She was Weiss Schnee, there should have been no problem with a simple test like initiation. It must have been the fact that she had never before fought against this many opponents in such a large arena. At home it had always been fights against large, single foes, or up to four smaller fighters in a relatively small area.

The Grimm raised one large paw above it's head in preparation for what was to be the final blow. Weiss closed her eyes, regretting, surprising even herself, that she wouldn't get a chance to protect people. Weiss heard the Ursa's claw start to descend, then she heard a much different noise. In quick succession; a mechanical thunk, a whirring noise, the sound of a blade through flesh, and finally, a thud of something hitting the tree behind her.

Weiss slowly opened her eyes to see Jaune sat up against a tree, holding what appeared to be a large crossbow. The Ursa, now minus one clawed appendage, turned towards Jaune and roared, before shambling towards where the fallen knight lay. Jaune fired another round from his crossbow and Weiss could now see that it looked like he was firing the arcs from his shield. The Ursa tilted it's head to the left to avoid the odd shaped projectile. What Weiss figured out, the ursa missed, and Jaune knew, was that the arc acted like a boomerang. Before the ursa could reach Jaune, the boomerang came back around and embedded itself in the monster's back.

Jaune, however, was in no position to fight the beast with just his sword. He had also run out of ammo in his crossbow. Well, when your ammo returns to you, who needs more than two? The boomerang in it's back did no more than annoy the large Grimm, so, it steadily marched towards Jaune. Weiss knew that Jaune couldn't fight, and, even in his weakened state, he had elected to draw the ursa towards himself. She refused to let Jaune die for her, she refused to be in any person's debt.

Weiss finally located Myrtenaster, some feet behind her, stuck in the ground like excalibur in the stone. She quickly jumped to her feet and hastened to her weapon. After she had retrieved her weapon, she hurriedly turned around to see the Ursa lift it's remaining claw for a finishing strike on the downed huntsman-to be. All Jaune could do was flimsily hold his shield in front of him as a final effort to ward off death. And even though Weiss knew her glyphs couldn't block the Grimm's attack, she activated her semblance anyway. However she also activated the Dust vials stored in the hilt of her rapier.

Jaune was looking up at the ursa, expecting death to come at any second. Imagine his surprise when, instead of the claw descending upon, and killing him, the Grimm's large claws actually moved away from him. He then noticed a glyph, small as it was, floating in the air above the monster. This one, instead of the usual white color, was pitch black. Furthermore, it seemed to be drawing the Ursa's claw towards it. Like it had it's own gravity. Jaune was snapped out of his stupor by the yelling of the white haired girl that was currently holding the beast back.

"Hurry up and move! I am not using the rest of my gravity dust so you can get your useless face mauled. Now, get over here!"

Jaune hurried over to Weiss' side and watched as the black colored dust vial in her rapier depleted, and the glyph broke. He then reached up and retrieved the bladed boomerang from where it was lodged in the tree.

Jaune spoke out, "Hey, Weiss? Can you give me a dust enhancement?"

"Hmm…" Weiss replied. "How does fire sound?"

"Perfect," Jaune replied with a grin. With that, Jaune leveled his crossbow at the now charging Grimm. A floating, red glyph appeared, rotating in the front. The Grimm was now drawing close, but Jaune couldn't afford to miss.

Ten feet.

Closer, Jaune thought.

Five.

Closeeer.

Three.

Just about…

One.

Now!

Jaune fired off the crossbow, and, as it passed through the glyph,it became a flaming circle that cut and burned a hole right through the center of the ursa. It let out a loud roar as it slowly collapsed onto the forest floor. Weiss and Jaune plopped down on the ground as the Grimm's corpse started to dissipate. They looked each other and it finally dawned on them that they were partners.

Jaune opened his mouth to say something, but Weiss beat him to it.

"Well, since I saw that your skills are not totally lacking, I will allow you the privilege of being my partner."

Oh,boy. Jaune thought, This is going to be a looong four years.

"Well, we should head on towards the center thing."

"Yes. Let's continue."

* * *

Jaune and Weiss arrived at their objective. They exited the forest into a large clearing with ruins of some sort in the center. The ruins looked to be an old temple from a religion long forgotten. The ruins were situated on a slightly raised, octagonal platform that was about one hundred feet in diameter. There was a crumbling shrine in the middle of the platform, that seemed to have at one time been dedicated to some sort of goddess. Around the edge of the platform were upwards of twenty raised pedestals, each displaying a different type Dust crystal. Most of the pedestal were empty, with the three remaining crystals being one green crystal, and two light brown crystals. There was a wide river, perhaps fifty feet across, that snaked around roughly half of the platform. As they approached the ruins, they noted that two fighters were already there. One, Weiss saw, was Pyrrha.

"Hello, there!" Pyrrha greeted the pair with a smile. All they got from her partner was a noncommittal grunt as she refused to look up from her book. However, Weiss noticed that she subtly flicked her eyes up at the two of them, silently gathering inflation and filing it away. Weiss made no mention of it and Jaune remained ignorant.

"Well, Weiss, if I'm not mistaken, these shiny things look semi-important, and they might possibly be the supposed "relics" we're looking for."

Weiss turned towards the sounds of the voice of her now-doomed partner. Pyrrha and her partner both went silent as they drew in the sight of the glaring and twitching heiress. Jaune's smile slowly turned into a petrified scream as saw the kind of face Weiss was making.

"Jaune," Weiss started in a low, but threatening tone, "If you ever make such an imbecilic remark ever again, I promise you, I will personally tear you limb from limb, stab you, then feed you to the biggest Grimm I can find."

Jaune slowly swallowed while nodding at his now terrifying partner. "Y-yes, Weiss. Whatever you say." Note to self. Never get on her bad side!

Weiss turned back to the group with a 'hmph',hoping she hadn't traumatized him too badly. "Jaune grab a crystal, would you?"

"A-anything you say, Weiss." Ok, maybe a little traumatized.

Jaune walked over to the three remaining crystals and looked them over. Finally. He decided to take a green dust shard, if only make things even. What?! Ok, so maybe he was a little OCD. As he picked it up he noticed a slight breeze blowing gently around the crystal. Curious, he picked up some dirt from the ground and dropped it onto the crystal. The falling dirt, rather than being repelled, as expected, was caught up in the airflow and started orbiting the crystal, much to the knight's surprise. Frowning observantly, he brushed the dirt out of the air current and walked back over to his partner.

He turned as Pyrrha started speaking to him, "Well now that we've calmed your partner down, maybe you'd like to tell us where your sword and shield have gone, as that is what Weiss told me you wield."

Ah crapcrapcrap. Ummm...ah!

"Look!" Jaune shouted, "Lots of explosions!" To his consternation, there did seem to be large yellow and pink blasts blowing up the forest in a line headed straight for them.

"Yeah haw!"

"Woohoo!"

To all those present's surprise, two Ursa came barreling out of the woods. What was most noticeable, however, were the two exuberant women riding atop them. As the Ursa collapsed from exhaustion (those explosions had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nooooo. Why would you think that?), Weiss and the rest clearly heard the ginger haired girl faintly exclaim, 'Aw, it's broken'.

The excited pair wandered over to where the other four were standing. "Hi, I'm Yang." The golden haired girl introduced herself. "And this is my partner in crime, explosions, and pancake eating contests, Nora." All they could get out of them was a stunned 'Uhhh', still shocked from their dramatic entrance. Jaune, of course, all ready knew Nora from his introduction to her pillow. The others, however, had never seen anyone this psycho, much less two, so they just stood there, stupefied. So Yang and Nora just looked at each other, shrugged, and then went over to pick out a dust crystal.

Yang was a tall blonde, with beautiful long golden hair, and a large...er…front. Bad Jaune! Bad, bad Jaune! Weiss seemed to have picked up on this,too, and quickly stomped on Jaune's foot with her heel. Yang was dressed in a brown vest with puffy sleeves and a yellow undershirt. Around her neck was an orange infinity scarf. She wore a brown utility belt along with black shorts. Jaune also noticed the two yellow bracelets on her wrist and wondered what they were for.

Skipping ahead of Yang, towards the relics, was her introduced partner, Nora. She was now the shortest person in their little "group", but what she lacked in height, she made up for in energy. She was everywhere, looking at the crystals, climbing the shrine, and even standing on Yang's shoulders. She had a short, shoulder length hair cut for her bright orange hair. Her turquoise eyes contrasted sharply with her hair color, as well as the rest of her outfit. She had on a white sleeveless shirt with a black vest underneath, and under her vest were two shirts, red and blue respectively. She had a white detached sleeve on each arm that reached from mid bicep all the way to her hands. She wears pink fingerless gloves the same color as her pink skirt. Cut into the front of her shirt is a hole in the shape of a heart that showed some...uh… Bad Jaune!

The two newcomers grabbed a dust shard and came back to the quad of students who were still standing there a little stunned. Their arrival broke the rest of the spell and enabled all of them to see, much to their confusion, that Jaune was now holding his sword and shield once again.

"Jaune," Pyrrha started, "Where did your weapons come from?"

"W-w-what? I've always had them. They were never gone. I have no clue what you're talking about!" Jaune was not nervous. Or sketchy! Nope! Everything was normal.

"Hmm" both Weiss and Pyrrha shared skepticism. And Blake, too, but the others didn't know she was paying attention. As soon as they newbies settled in to the group, it seemed like everything was calming down. No monsters, no crazy people dropping from the sky, no odd blurs sipping in and out of everyone's vision.

Ziiiip!

Ok, I take back the last one. Jaune was talking with the town new arrivals when he saw a red blur split by the corner of his vision. As he turned to see what it was, Yang and Nora looked at him in curiosity, as he had just looked away in the middle of their conversation. All three of them noticed the next blur that came by, this time on their right instead, and in a green hue.

"Guys, you might want to be careful." Jaune called out in warning. The other three took their attention away from their own conversation and quickly noticed whatever it was as well. They could never get the blurs in the center of their vision. Always right in the corner of their eyes, right in the shadows. And finally, all was still. No movement, no sound, just the rustling of the wind in the trees and grass. Everybody gathered together in a group, weapons at the ready.

All of a sudden, there was a tap. On their backs. Coming from the middle of the circle that everyone else had their backs to. Jaune gulped and started to slowly turn around.

"Hello!"

The shout of greeting had everyone turn around and thrust their weapons at whatever had startled them. Unfortunately, said creature was gone. And they ended up looking down the points of each other's weapons or in Weiss' case, looking down the barrel of a very compact grenade launcher, and in Blake's case, down the barrel of a miniaturized shotgun.

"Snrk. Bwa-hahaha! That was great! I was like 'hi!' And you guys were all like 'Aagh! Stabby stabby!' B-but you couldn't even hit me! I-! Aahahaha. I-I guess I win this one, huh Yang?"

After all hearts had started to beat at a normal tempo, they got their first real look at the person that had, apparently, scared them to death just to one-up Yang. They saw Yang already hugging said person extremely tightly, probably tighter than was good for her health.

"Guys, this is Ms. Ruby Rose, my little sister." Yang said, introducing her to the group. For Jaune, this was a familiar face. The others, however had not seen her before. Jaune just now noticed that Ruby was a short girl, barely taller than Nora. She was fair skinned and had black hair with a red tint to it. She was wearing a black blouse, waist cinch, and skirt combination. There was red trimming on the dress and the waist cinch had red laces. To top it all off she had a long cloak that almost touched the ground, complete with a hood. It was pinned to the front of her blouse by two tiny, red crosses.

"Hi, Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hi, Ruby. Find a partner ok?"

"Huh? Yeah, he's right...here?" Ruby said, looking confused. Suddenly, what could only be described as a conspiratorial smile spread across her face. Suddenly she shouted, "Ren! Come out now!"

For the second time that day, six new students almost had heart attacks as they whipped around at the low, but not quiet, 'hello' that came from behind them.

This was another name and figure that Jaune recognized. The counterpart to one hyper Nora Valkyrie, stood, relaxed as ever, as Nora latched onto his body like a monkey, and began asking rapid-fire questions so fast that the others couldn't understand her. Even though Ren was used to this, he was still only able to answer by yes or no, as he didn't have enough time to say anything else.

"Ren" Jaune asked, questioningly "where'd you appear from?"

Ren gave what Jaune would later come to call his 'wouldn't you like to know' face, and simply said, "somewhere."

Jaune gave a small grunt of annoyance. He turned to gather everyone and prepare to go back when he noticed a small, but steadily growing, cloud of dark smoke drifting off into the sky. His a lark grew when he noticed that what caused this cloud was a fire. A Forest fire to be exact.

"Um, nobody happened to set the forest on fire while we were there, did they?" Jaune, gulped out nervously.

"Yup! That was me! I guess you could just say I have a 'fiery' personality." Yang claimed her deed with a Cheshire grin. Ruby groaned audibly, and Nora thought it was hilarious, though Jaune could only guess why.

"And, uh, did you know, by any chance" Jaune continued, "just exactly what lives there? Ya know, in the monster infested forest, where we just set their home in fire."

Collectively, the group grew just a shade paler. Except Nora, who seemed immune to the mood. Oh, and fear in general. Eventually, Weiss, looking white, even of her usual skin tone, tried to dismiss it with a scoff. "Tch. Nothing's come out of the wood so far, and therefore, I doubt anything will. Any Grimm in there would have already been driven out."

"Unless they were sleeping."

This thought from Ruby, unconsciously spoken out loud, froze each one of them. They all knew, even at their juvenile age, that the sleeping Grimm were the oldest. Any Grimm you found asleep had already been fighting for many, many years before it went to it's slumber. Then, waking refreshed and even stronger, these grim would take up to an entire team of hunters and huntress to subdue. The sleeping were dangerous. The sleeping were old. The sleeping were primordial.

And thus, the sleeping had become a legend, a tale told to show men and women that the Grimm were a real and very dangerous threat. Finding sleeping Grimm had been unheard of before, but nobody had explored every reach of Remnant. And Weiss knew for a fact, that nobody had explored all of the Emerald forest. With this thought in her head, the world seemed to want to show her just how real the sleeping were.

A loud roar pierced the silence that had followed the young reaper's thought. As it died down, the fire seemed to leave the forest, before shooting up in a single gout of flame. The eight student could only watch in awe, as a large, lithe form on wing, rose out of the woods. The thing flew at blistering speeds towards the group, before touching down at the edge of the clearing, it's back to the once burning trees. Jaune got his first real look at the creature and he couldn't believe his eyes.

It was about eight feet tall. A large cat, no, a lion, that was it. It's huge white mane contrasted sharply with the rest of its black-furred body. Jaune could hardly tear his gaze away from the blood red eyes that terrified the students. It was all he could do to get a look at the rest of it. It's body was that of a lion, but, almost too fast for Jaune to see, was a dark gray snake where its tail should be. The acid dripping from the fangs of the snake was melting the ground upon contact. The most startling feature, however, were the large, black skeletal wings, covered in a white, but not translucent, membrane. White, Grimm plated armor covered almost its whole body, except for where the wings jutted out from its back. There was no armor on the Grimm's face, save for a stripe down its nose, and curved piece across the forehead.

"That's a Lirym…" Pyrrha whispered in awe. As the others glanced at her, not daring to take their full attention away from the beast, she continued, "a creature from Mistralian mythology. Nobody has ever seen one before, I don't think anybody believed they existed! And...if that is a creature from a legend, then... it has been asleep for a very long time."

The Lirym loossed a wave of fire from its maw, and the eight hunters and huntresses to be scattered.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, again, really sorry for the long wait, but there you go! 5.5K words, so my longest chapter yet! The Grimm I introduced is a Lirym, (Lear-um) (my own name). Just think of a chimera from age of mythology, minus the goat head, and plus the wings.**

 **Any feedback would be loved, I really like using your suggestions in my story, to either be a better writer or even plot or character ideas. All are welcome (no offense to you or your idea if I don't incorporate it. If I don't use it its because I just can't fit it.)**

 **So, again, thanks to all you readers and R &R, please. Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, with a couple hints towards some future development, who wouldn't? Anyways, not much else, other than the fact that I, Raenstorm Alaguiel, do NOT own Rwby. That privilege goes to the esteemed RoosterTeeth.**

 **Oh, I'm SUPER sorry for the late update. English class sucks. Anyway, instead of NaNoWriMo, I figured I'd just try to focus on this more. So I'm going to try to put out another chapter this month. Wish me luck! Enjoy!**

 **Life advice: There's a reason we don't start forest fires**

* * *

The Lirym lossed a wave of fire from its maw, and the eight huntsmen and huntresses to be scattered. They split, unintentionally, into two groups of four. Jaune, Weiss, Ruby, and Ren ended up taking shelter in and around the surprisingly large shrine that was actually a small building with a room inside. A few trees and large rocks provided them some cover as they thought of a plan. The other four had run to the edge of the woods, hoping the trees might entangle the beast, and dissuade it from entering.

"Guys, we need to think of something." Jaune was oddly calm. Considering the circumstances, and of what Ruby knew of him, he seemed too focused for someone who almost threw up on the bus, who couldn't find the auditorium, and who was the most socially awkward person she had ever met. Well, besides herself, of course.

Ren spoke up, "Well, we should probably find a way to communicate with the other four. Let them know we're ok, and what we'll be doing."

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!" Ruby said excitedly, jumping up and down. Jaune just shook his head and told Ruby to go find the others. In a flash she was gone. With that out of the way, Jaune turned to the one member of their party who hadn't spoken yet.

"Well, Weiss. Any ideas?" She startled slightly at his question, her thoughts having been elsewhere. When she realized his question, she just looked at him in slight contempt, and gave a slight 'hmph' before going back to her musings. This time with a small scowl upon her lips. Jaune didn't know quite what to make of this, and instead turned and asked Ren if it had any weak points that he could spot.

"It seems to be heavily covered in armor, the only uncovered places are the tail itself, the wing bases, parts of the face, and probably the bottoms of the feet. With all that fire, not to mention the tail, I don't think we could get close enough to to hit those spots, anyway."

"Hmm...I thought as much. Ok, here's what we'll try…"

* * *

Weiss was not enjoying her first day at Beacon.

First of all, she was launched off of a cliff! Not that she couldn't handle it, or that her landing was anything but perfect. But it was the principle of the thing! Schnee heiresses did not get thrown into the air. Not proper, not proper at all. And then, right after landing, she was set upon by that pack if Grimm. Had the imbecilic Arc not managed to distract her, she could have finished the pack off quite easily.

Although, now that she thought about it, she had heard the name Arc before, somewhere. For the life of her, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't quite place his name.

As she turned to look at the Lirym, it gave a huge swipe at a tree and slashed through the base of the tree in one go. As the tree slowly toppled over, Weiss thought that swing had almost looked like a...punch. She froze, images of white, and gray, and black...and a slim dash of red. A swing of a giant fist, a surprise flash of pain, flying, but not in the good way, landing, hard, getting back up, and going again, and again, and again…

Weiss was snapped out of her nightmare by a question from Jaune. She felt a twinge of gratitude, before glaring at him and going back to her thoughts. She would not let some giant, slow, graceless thing beat her again. She would be faster, stronger, better, this time, perfect. A shock of short, white hair burst into her thoughts, she heard a soft, but stern sound. You were hit. The tone of disappointment. She heard Jaune and Ren conversing in the background.

"Weiss, are you alright?" Jaune questioned, startling Weiss out of her memories.

"I-I...yes, I'm fine."

Jaune was surprised to hear a tiny hint of sadness in her voice. She saw his surprise, evident on his face, and quickly switched back to her brusque, sharp manner.

"Ahem. So, what have we found out?"

"Ok, here's the deal. As soon as Ruby comes back, we'll have here go and brief the others. Ren and Ruby will distract and parry the tail. I want Blake and you, Weiss, going in and out, dealing as much damage to its legs as you can. Try aiming for the backs of the knees. Pyrrha and I will be on defense. With our shields, it will be our job to protect you guys from the fire. Lastly, Yang and Nora will be our front hitters. I want them pounding the face of that thing with all they've got. If we can hold out, we might just be able to beat it. Everybody, make sure to watch out for the wings, they look sharp and they have quite a bit of range."

"Ok. And...I'm off!"

"What!? Ruby! When'd you get here?"

"Like...right at the beginning. I got it all. Give some signal when you're ready to move out!"

"Ren, did you hear her arrive?"

"...No."

Hmm. Weiss regarded the speedster carefully. She may be of higher skill than she originally thought. After Ruby left, Weiss closely examined her job: the thing's legs. If she looked intently, she could see just the barest whisper of cracks in its armor that allowed its legs freedom of movement. If she could slip her rapier in those cracks, the Lirym would have a very tough time of moving indeed.

While Weiss pondered over her mission the others took their time as well. After only three minutes, Ruby came back and reported that the other group was ready to strike. Jaune, after taking a deep breath, said "Alright everyone, move out!" At the command from Jaune, Weiss placed into the air a snow white glyph. With a sniper shot from Ruby in response, the eight of them launched themselves at the behemoth Grimm.

When the Lirym had appeared, the two groups had split up in a way that enabled them to be on both sides of the beast. So when they attacked, they had luckily landed the enormous Grimm in a state of confusion, not knowing which way to turn. This let Nora and Yang each land the strongest hit they could. However, this was the only lucky break they would get this battle. The two heavy hits, while dealing some major damage, also knocked some semblance of awareness back into the beast. With the monster back in control of his senses, the battle began in earnest.

"Yang, Nora, alternate in and out on hits! Same for you, Weiss and Blake. Make sure it's always being hit! If you see an attack coming, pull back and let the distraction team take care of it!" Jaune was barking out orders left and right while also trying to defend the heavy hitters like his job required.

Weiss slid in from her side and quickly hit with three lightning fast strikes that, while good tries, were unable to pierce the Grimm's armor. As she leapt back to let Blake try, she couldn't even see any marks where Myrtenaster had glanced of the Lirym's hide. Blake quickly joined in, however, she too was unable to make any quick headway. The both of them exchanging volleys with the beast, they didn't notice a threat looming up behind them. "Weiss, Blake, duck!" At the yell from Ruby and Ren, the black and white duo flattened themselves on the ground just in time for the snake of a tail to fly right over their heads. When they got back up, they could see the two R's engaged in a high paced, midair fight with the thing. With the snake striking left and right, and Ruby and Ren seemingly teleporting in and out of attacks, it was almost impossible for the two girls to keep up with it all. They took another look at Nora and Yang before going back to their job.

Yang and Nora were...not having much success. Though they pounded and punched and bombarded the face. There was hardly and visible evidence that they were damaging the giant Grimm. The few scorch marks from where a some grenades had landed, and the indents from the initial hits, were all that the four hunters in front had to show for their efforts. With the Grimm trying constantly to strike with it's wings, it was all Jaune and Pyrrha could do to protects the two boisterous huntresses. The Lirym got a good hit in every now and then, but each hit was enough to send the girl flying almost a hundred feet.

Jaune raced towards the huge beast, signaling Pyrrha along with him. He had seen something the others had not, something dangerous. Although he was young, he was experienced at combat, due to a past...he'd rather not talk about. Nevertheless, this knowledge saw that small glint of...something in it's eye. Something that hinted at, God he hoped not, but it looked like a trap. And Jaune knew of the one weapon it had yet to use in the battle.

"Everybody get away!"

At Jaune's shout, the remaining six hunters quickly looked at eachother and leapt away. Jaune knew that this was the right choice. Even as he was running, he could see the glow building up in it's throat and see the satisfaction in it's eyes. Both Jaune and the giant Grimm knew that there was no way that his friends could get out of the blast range in time, so Jaune was doing the only thing he could. Even if he had to sacrifice himself to save his friends he would. As the beast took a final inhale, Jaune stopped, as close as he could get, and planted his shield into the ground. Pyrrha stopped right behind him and, seeing his intention, put her shield on top of his and braced for impact.

The Lirym let out a single concentrated blast of fire that, had Jaune and Pyrrha not attempted to block it, would have wiped out all eight of them where they stood. Due to the intervention of the yellow and red duo, the blast had been split, driving the flame off to the sides. Jaune and Pyrrha could feel the blistering heat as Pyrrha's shield began to blur at the edges, melting from such an intense fire. Pyrrha, at an odd distracted glance, noticed that Jaune's shield was holding up just fine. Pyrrha made a mental note to talk to him later about it.

Despite the protection being offered, two of their comrades were still hit by the blast. Yang, as she turned back and saw that her and her partner, Nora, was just on the edge of the fire, shoved Nora out of harm's way, propelling herself into the fire in the process. Ren, too, was hit by the wave of flame. As he was running, he tried to get out of the way, but, exhausted by the earlier parrying, was just a step late in his maneuver. The fire skimmed along his right arm, and Ruby later swore she heard a hissing noise, like steam. After the flame had subsided, Ruby and Nora both ran to their downed partners. Weiss took charge of the situation after seeing that Jaune would be in no state to issue commands.

"You two! Get them to the River!" Weiss yelled, pointing at the current flowing on the other side of the shrine. Weiss also launched a volley of fire blasts at the thing in a hopes to distract it from her now stunned partner. The blasts struck home but to Weiss' surprise, the fire simply reflected off of the Grimm's sides, the monster seemingly impervious to dust.

"Blake, come with me!" Weiss called the black garbed girl, "We need to get those two out of there!" Weiss and Blake raced towards the two still shielding them from the fire. Blake jumped into the air and then leapt off of a clone, hoping to get a shot and the beast's eyes. The Lirym reacted with a swish of it's wings, swatting her out of the air. Weiss, seeing it's reaction to Blake, knew better than to try for an aerial. Instead she plunged her rapier into to the ground and unleashed a wave of ice, not a the Grimm, but rather at the wave of fire still emanating from its maw. The ice made a small tunnel through the blast. Weiss hurried through the makeshift barrier, knowing it wouldn't last long in the heat. True to form, Weiss dove out just as it melted behind her. Landing with a small 'oomph', Weiss quickly stood up, disregarding the dust and dirt now staining her previously pristine outfit.

Weiss placed a glyph around her feet. The white symbol propelled her straight at the beast's right foreleg. Weiss, intent on finishing her initial job, held no power back, this was not a glancing blow, and drove her sword straight into the Grimm's flesh, releasing an enormous amount of wind dust directly into the Lirym's leg. Immense amounts of air did not like to be contained. And so it escape. Violently.

The pocket of air in the monster's leg burst open, shredding almost all of the bottom of it's leg, cutting it nearly down to the bone. The Lirym let out a huge roar, ceasing its wave of flame. It had never been damaged to such an extent, much less by such annoying insects. The Grimm had decided that it was time to end this.

Blake after seeing Weiss' move, rushed in and tried to pull back the exhausted Jaune and Pyrrha. Expecting a strike from the wings, she kept a sharp eye out. This, however, left her blind to another strike.

Pyrrha cried out in despair, as her partner was sideswiped by the snake attached to the Grimm. Blake was thrown up in the air. As the snake came around for a bite this time, she jumped off of a clone just as she would have been hit. A wing came down afterwards, the snake only being a distraction. Blake was slammed into the ground with a huge cloud of dirt rising up. Blake was lying in a small crater, knocked out cold. Pyrrha, seeing this, rushed at the Lirym, and engaged in a full out battle. Jumping and slashing, dodging and blocking. She used all the experience in her four years of combat dueling to try and get revenge for her fallen comrade.

Pyrrha jumped and then propelled herself off of her shield, using it as a platform. As she rose into the air, the huge Grimm tried to bat her out of the air. Pyrrha had seen what had happened to Blake, and so she reacted accordingly. The wing came straight towards her, the claw on the wing aiming to kill, not just hit her away. Pyrrha, in a split second, used the xiphos form of Miló to stab the monster's wing and flip her self up over the attack. As she flew towards the beast's head, she used her semblance to bring Akoúo̱ up from where it lay on the ground. The shield sped upwards to slam into the Lirym's jaw. With the head up and throat exposed, Pyrrha launched her javelin straight for where it's jugular would be.

The Grimm was tired of being stung by these insignificant insects. With a flap of its other wing, it swept Pyrrha, Jaune, and Blake away. Weiss plunged her rapier into the ground and then used it as an anchor to stop herself from being flung away. She was quickly set upon by the tail of the beast. Weiss jumped into the air to avoid a strike, only to immediately leap sideways off a glyph to dodge the next.

Jaune looked up from where he had been blown away to see Pyrrha exhausted from the combined efforts of shielding that blast and from taking the Lirym on all by herself. Jaune knew that he and Weiss were effectively the only ones left in the fight, with both Nora and Ruby taking care of their burned partners, and Blake knocked out cold. Jaune started sprinting towards the huge beast when he saw a sight that made his blood run cold. All he could do was try to run faster, as he saw the snake finally catch up with Weiss and bite her, with one fang going straight through her thigh.

Weiss screamed, a sound that rent and shattered the rush of battle.

Jaune stood frozen, it was too early, they weren't ready for this type of fight, much less a loss this severe. Two burn victims, one knocked out cold, possibly concussed, one passed out from exhaustion, and finally, one with a fang the size of a broadsword pierced through her thigh. There was nothing he could do. He was strong, but not that strong! Jaune slid to his knees as despair overwhelmed him. He had let himself down. He had let his partner down. Sure they hadn't gotten off on the best foot, but he was hoping to have time to make that up later. Now there wouldn't be a later. But, worst of all to Jaune, he had let his friends down. Friends he had led into battle, friends he had commanded to their deaths. He may have only known them for a day or less, but he was already responsible for eight souls, eight lights, burning on the horizon of tomorrow. But, damn it, he was not going to let these light be put out!

Jaune rose to his feet and resumed his run towards the beast, screaming as he went. Blake groggily sat up and held witness to what happened next. As Jaune ran, he started to glow, white aura blazed off him in waves. It soon became so bright that Blake had to close her eyes. Suddenly the light blazed brighter than ever, brighter than the sun, before it dimmed almost completely. When Blake could see again she saw who she knew had to be Jaune, but she also knew that this was something different.

Standing in front of the Lirym, now a full nine feet tall, was a knight in an entire set of glowing white plate armor. In his right hand he held a white bladed greatsword about five feet in length. It had an intricate hilt and pommel sculpted of iron and gold. The double-edged sword look extremely fluid as the paladin swished his new blade through the air. In his left, he was holding a full, six foot tall tower shield, again with a pure white face and gold and iron trimmings that looped and swirled along the edges. Right in the middle of the shield sat an image of a hammer and anvil, overlapped with the the Arc symbol. The hammer and anvil were a dark silver color with white streaks running throughout. The Arc crest was inlaid in its classic bright gold.

Along the back, matching the white with gold scheme followed by the rest of his armour, hung a white cloak, again with the the dual crest on the back. Atop his newly adorned helm rested a long, white plume, like those of of a centurion, running from his brow to his neck. The paladin let out a roar of a shout, in challenge to the monster that dared harm his company. The beast answered back with an equally loud roar, swinging the deadweight from the end of its tail in order to prepare for the real battle.

With a mighty crash, beast and paladin met on the field of battle. The knight swung its sword, aiming for the wing of the behemoth. Retaliation was made with a snake, butting aside the sword on the flat of the blade and then striking with its other wing. The wing was quickly deflected by a swift move of the shield, and another counterattack was made. This exchange went on for a few minutes with neither side gaining ground. With attack and rebuttal by both human and Grimm, the knight knew he must end this swiftly, lest he be worn down to defeat. So, on the next swipe of the monsters wing, he let the attack hit home. With the the claw piercing through a small chink in his armour, the paladin brought up his greatsword and drove it straight though the Lirym's maw that was wide open in a victory screech.

Weiss opened her eyes just in time to see her blonde partner falling out of the air, a huge gash in his chest, as what appeared to be remnants of a giant set of armor dissolving around him. Wincing from the pain in her thigh, Weiss tried to sit up, only for her vision to swim before going black.

Jaune was slowly losing consciousness. He looked up to see the blade in the defeated beast's mouth dissipate into the air. As he became lost to the world, he heard one voice speak in his mind. In a rich, deep voice it said,

 _I'll be waiting, Jaune. For I am Ardun. And I am you._

* * *

 **Beep**

 **Beep**

 **Beep**

 **Beep**

* * *

 _Jaune….Jaune…._

 _I don't wanna. Let me sleep!_

 _Jaune...Jaune…_

 _No! Go away!_

 _Jaune! Jaune! You need to wake up!_

 _It's so nice here though…_

 _Jaune! Get up!_

 _Ah! I'm good._

 _Get up, you idiot!_

 _Smack!_

 _Miss! You can't do that!_

 _He's just being stupid!_

 _You can't slap the patient, and you shouldn't even be out of bed!_

 _Hmph, whatever!_

* * *

At first, all he could see was the backs of his eyelids. When he opened them, spires of light pierced his eyes, making him close them quickly. He slowly slid his eyes open just a crack and let his brain adjust. When he could finally open his eyes, he saw a white ceiling. When he tried to move, he found that most of his body was in a brace, with his arms and legs wrapped up in casts.

"W-wa-water" Jaune tried to croak out.

"Finally."

Jaune tried to look around to see who had spoken, but again he was restrained.

"Fine" Jaune could almost hear the rolling of the eyes in the voice, "I'll come over there. You really are an idiot, you know."

Jaune heard the shifting of fabric, and then the clacking of wood on the floor. When someone finally came into his view, he was surprised to see Weiss Schnee standing on a pair of crutches.

"What? Are just going to keep staring?"

Jaune realized he hadn't said a word, instead being surprised by seeing the esteemed heiress in a hospital gown.

"Wa-water"

"Tch, hold on a second."

Weiss slowly, balancing on her crutches reached over to grab the pitcher sitting on the table beside his hospital bed. She slowly poured a cup before trying to hand it to him. Jaune tried to move, but then just looked at her. Weiss stared for a couple seconds before jumping and beginning to pour the water into his mouth.

"I forgot you can't move."

As Weiss gave Jaune a drink, a nurse walked in the room.

"Oh! Mr. Arc, you're awake. And Miss Schnee, how many times do I have to tell you, get back in your bed!"

"Ugh, fine."

"Now, Mr. Arc, can you tell me what happened? None of your friends seem to have the full picture."

Jaune racked his brain trying to figure out what had happened. All he could remember were bits and pieces.

"Um, I don't remember a lot. I remember the fire, and shielding with Pyrrha. I remember Blake trying to get me out. The last thing I remember is...Weiss! Omygod are you okay!?"

Jaune turned, before remember he couldn't, and almost broke the restraints. As the nurse rushed to steady him, Weiss replied,

"Yeah, I'm fine. After Ruby had taken care of Ren, she ran back to the cliff and got Headmaster Ozpin and the Assistant Headmistress. So by the time you had...finished…I got immediate treatment." She showed him the bandage around her lithe thigh, "Luckily it pierced straight through, so I wasn't poisoned at all, but I was in critical condition from blood loss. If you hadn't beaten the thing...I probably wouldn't have survived. So...t-tha-"

"Jaune! Oh, I was so worried! Areyouok? I'm _so_ sorryIcouldn'thelp! Is there anything I can get you?"

Jaune smiled at the short, teary-eyed redhead clinging to his side, "I'm fine, Ruby. I'm sorry I worried you. But, by not not fighting, you did save all of our lives. Both Weiss and I would have bled out without you getting help."

Ruby only responded by sniffling into Jaune's now thoroughly burned and cut up hoodie. Jaune looked up to see the rest of his group standing in the doorway. Ren gave Jaune a small thanks, as did the other four.

Jaune saw Pyrrha and immediately remembers what she did.

"Pyrrha, are you ok? You took the brunt of that fire."

"Thanks you Jaune, but I am fine. In fact, you did the most out of all of us. I should be asking how you are."

Jaune gave a sheepish grin, "Honestly, I don't remember much after Weiss got bitten."

"Hmm, then I suppose it is an enigma. Blake saw a little bit, then soon passed out. All she remembered was a giant suit of white armor, of a paladin."

Jaune gave a small start at the last word, but recovered with a redundant question towards Weiss, "Well, I'm assuming we passed, considering I'm not throwing up on a bullhead right now."

Weiss just rolled her eyes before giving a short, "Yes, you idiot, we passed."

"Oh, good. I was afraid we had almost died for nothing."

The nurse smiled gently at their banter, before starting to usher his guests from the room.

"Ooh! Hey Jaune, guess what!?"

"What, Nora?" Jaune replied with a smile.

"We got split into teams, and…" Nora's voice faded as the nurse, now shoving, got them out of the room.

"Wait, Weiss. What was Nora talking about?"

"There's a scroll of the table. I think Ozpin left you a message. Let me show you."

Weiss stood on her crutches and wobbled over to Jaune's bedside where she pulled up a chair and sat down. On the scroll in her hands, a picture of the wizened Headmaster appeared on the screen.

He began, "Now I'm sure you are first wondering about the members of your group. I assure you, all their injuries were treated and they are fine. Miss Schnee will be out of the hospital in less than a day. As for teams, your comrades Miss Nikos, Miss Belladonna, Miss Valkyrie, and Miss Xiao-Long have been put together as team NBVL, team Nebula. They are lead by Miss Belladonna. I believe her expireience can now be put to good use here."

Before Jaune could question then Headmaster' last statement, he continued, "That being said, the remaining four of you have also been put on a team. You, Mr. Arc, Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, and Mr. Lie have all been placed on team ARSL, team Arsenal, led by...Mr. Arc. I believe your experience can be put to good use as well." With a sly wink, the image of Ozpin disappeared from the screen.

Jaune sat stunned. He had been accepted into Beacon and appointed the team leader at the same time! Wait a minute...did that mean?"

"So, Weiss." Jaune put out. He waited for a questioning noise from the heiress before continuing,

"Does that mean that I'm the boss of the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"

"I _swear_ , Jaune. If you _ever_ , and I mean _EVER_ , try to use me, I will _END_ you."

" _Gulp!_ Y-yes, ma'am!"

* * *

 **Sorry if the ending was a little anticlimactic. I was trying to get this chapter out because I know you guys have been waiting forever. Sorry about the wait...again. So, on a brighter note, I have discovered my ideal writing environment. It just so happens to be in English class when I'm supposed to be doing anything else. So yeah, fun. Anyway read and review. Leave any suggestions or comments in the reviews or you can PM me. Please, constructive criticism only. Thanks for reading. Raenstorm out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm baaaack! Surprised to see me twice in one month? Me too. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, 3,000+ words of fight scene are not easy to write. And speaking of fight, what did you guys think of the power that Jaune displayed? What was it and will he be able to find it again? There will be more on it later in the story so keep reading. I hope you enjoy the fifth chapter of An Arc of White Snowflakes.**

 **A response to BNVL because, for some reason, I couldn't reply to it: Thank you very much for that. It made me laugh a lot :) To answer, no not quite. There will be a few differences later on.**

 **Life advice: Stay in school...or you could get eaten by monsters.**

* * *

"Well guys, seeing as I'm finally out of the hospital, and Weiss here has so _graciously_ allowed me the honor of sleeping in the same room as her, show me our dorm!"

Jaune had just gotten released from the infirmary and was very excited to see the place he'd be staying for four years. Weiss rolled her eyes at his sarcastic comment, having heard enough of those, and the jokes, during her forced proximity to the blonde huntsman. She had been released a few days earlier than Jaune, which luckily allowed her to fix the horror that had been their dorm, before Ruby had gotten too out of hand.

When she had first arrived, it had been a mess. Ruby had thrown her stuff every which way, and had tried to tie up a bed above one of the others. While, it had looked extremely haphazard, what, with the way she had hoisted it up with ropes, leaving it lopsided, along with the fact that this was done by a fifteen year old girl who had the maturity level of a toddler, Weiss was astounded at the stability of the thing. Then again, she did remember that Jaune told her that she had designed and built that extremely over complicated farm tool all by herself.

"Ruby, I'm not even going to ask why or how, just that you're sure that your bed isn't going to flatten Ren during the night?" Weiss asked, as little skeptically.

"Nah. It's fine. This rigging can hold up an Ursa!"

"...I'm not even going to ask how you know that."

"Well, you see, Yang and I were out camping, but we forgot a tent and all we had was a bed-"

"I said I'm not going to ask!" Weiss interrupted. She continued in an undertone,"I swear. You are going to be the death of me someday…Alright. As assistant team leader, I am ordering you to clean your stuff off the floor this instant, although you may keep the bed."

"What! Why are you assistant team leader!? If anything, _I_ should be! Because _I'm_ awesome!"

"Ugh. Just...get this clean before Jaune gets here."

"Yes ma'am!"

Jaune entered the room and immediately saw Ruby's bunk.

"Gasp! Weiss, does this mean that we can…!?"

 _Dear Lord!_ "Yes, Jaune we can have bunk beds."

Jaune started dancing around the room, with Ruby joining in, "Bunk beds! Bunk beds!"

"You know, Jaune" the usually silent Ren chimed from his bed, under Ruby's, "You are the team leader. There shouldn't be a reason for you to have to ask Weiss' permission."

Jaune stopped dancing and turned to face the green themed ninja. "You wouldn't say that if you had seen her when she's angry." Jaune stage whispered from behind his hand. Weiss, of course, heard this, and started tapping her foot with her arms crossed and a frown upon her face.

"Jaune how could even you have already angered Weiss on the first day?" Ruby asked incredulously.

"Well...eh heh. Let's just say that Weiss here isn't the biggest fan of puns."

 **Boom! Crash! Bang!**

"Did somebody say puns!?"

"Yang...go away."

"Oh, come on. Weiss ya gotta be so rude. Eh? Eh?"

Jaune violently signaled to Yang as Weiss faced her with a fury in her eyes. "THAT IS IT! I AM TIRED OF PUNS! FOR THE LAST THREE DAYS, ALL I HEARD WAS PUN AFTER PUN!"

"Really? Good to ya, Jauney-boy."

"Er, thanks Yang."

"Yang, if you do not leave _right now_ , you will spend the first week of classes frozen in a block of ice!"

"Aw, c'mon, you're as cold as Weiss. Get it?"

"GET BACK HERE YANG!"

As Yang bolted out of the room with Weiss in pursuit, Jaune turned to his two remaining teammates. "So who wants to help me do Weiss and I's beds?"

"I'll help." Ruby answered with a cheerful smile.

"Thanks Rubes. However, we should probably build this one correctly."

"Fine." Ruby sighed, "I'll go get the wood." She grabbed Crescent Rose as she walked out the door.

"Wait, what?"

* * *

Weiss walked back into her dorm, exhausted from chasing the blonde buffoon, not her partner this time, around campus. She was _this_ close to getting her hands on her and throttling her. Not that she would _kill_ her. Probably.

Weiss saw what Jaune had done with the beds and was very...surprised. She really didn't know where Jaune had gotten the wood to build four wooden pillars, much less how he had carved them so intricately.

"Jaune...I'm not even going to ask."

Jaune looked a little nostalgic, "Well, when you have sisters, and your dad's a huntsman, you learn to do the building around the house. Whenever my sisters wanted something, dad would hardly ever be home, and so I'd be the one building them doll houses and tree houses and fake Grimm targets."

Weiss just looked at him oddly for a little bit. "Your house was a little eccentric, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Jaune smiled and chuckled lightly at the thought.

"Disregarding, I will take the bottom bunk, I do not need any 'accidents' happening regarding clothing."

Jaune turned red and sputtered, "Wh-what! I would never!"

"Hmph." She continued, "In the morning, the shower _will_ be available to me from eight fifteen to eight forty five. And who ever gets breakfast in the morning, get me an apple." With the that, Weiss went to the bathroom to change."

Ren spoke up, "That is actually a good idea. We should take turns getting breakfast for the team in the morning and bringing it back to our room."

"Alright, Ren," Jaune confirmed, "I'll take Monday, you can do Tuesday, Ruby, Wednesday, Weiss, Thursday, and I'll take Friday."

Ruby chimed up from where she was swinging her legs on her bed, "Jaune, you might have a problem."

"What's that?"

"I doubt Weiss is going to want to get the rest of us breakfast."

Jaune sighed in exasperation, "True. Ok then, I'll take Thursday as well."

"Hey Jaune, me and you can both do it Thursday and Friday if you want."

"Thanks, Ruby. I appreciate the help."

"No problem, that's what friends are for!" Ruby finished with a cheerful smile.

"I believe we should head to bed, we have a big first day tomorrow and it's getting late." Ren spoke calmly.

"Good idea, Ren. Alright everybody, hit the hay."

Weiss walked out of the restroom and Ruby ran in. Jaune and Ren had simply taken turns changing in the closet and slept in just shorts, Weiss having refused Jaune when he tried to sleep in a bunny onesie he had brought from home. Jaune climbed up into his bunk on the ladder he had made, with Ruby launching into hers with a jump. Weiss settled into her bed while warily watching her red clad teammate's sway back and forth. Ren calmly got into bed, despite the death trap above him.

As Jaune hit the light, he called out, "Night, guys."

"Night, Jaune."

"Goodnight, Jaune."

"...Weiss?"

Weiss sighed, "Goodnight."

* * *

The first day of classes for team Arsenal was very interesting. As a team, they all had the same schedule. First period was Grimm Studies with Professor Port. Second, they had either Team Combat or Individual Combat with Goodwitch. After combat they had an hour and a half of lunch. The entire first year class had lunch at this time, which gave them time to regain aura after combat. Team ARSL had Strategy right after lunch. Strategy was an individual team class, where Professor Falke coached them using a tabletop holographic strategy simulator. After Strategy was History with _Doctor_ Oobleck. For their final class of the day, the had Aura Training, again with Goodwitch.

After breakfast, which Ren had so graciously, not brought, but _made_ for them (He was a cook. Who knew?), they had all showered and then trudged over to Prof. Port's classroom.

"I know it's nine, but it feels like six." Jaune complained.

"Oh, do be quiet. I do _not_ need to hear your whining every morning for the next four years." Weiss admonished him. She had been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the bed and bath at the school and, consequently, was in a good mood and didn't want it to be ruined by Jaune's griping. Her mood had been further bolstered by Ren's cooking that morning. She had refused to eat the pancakes that the others called sufficient nutrient, and Ren had complied, making her a ham, cheese, and bell pepper burrito, something Weiss had thought was healthy enough for her breakfast.

"But Weeiiisss," Ruby said from Jaune's back, where she had demanded he carry her, as it was too early to walk, or so she claimed, "I can't even see the sun yet."

"Ruby?"

 _Yawn_ "Yes, Weiss?"

"That's because your eyes are closed you dunce!"

"Ohhh. That explains it! Thanks Weiss!"

Weiss was still shaking their head when they arrived at Professor Port's room. Inside was a semicircle of bench desks, descending in height as they approached the front of the room. Jaune and his team settled into a group of four seats in the back row as other teams filed in. Eventually, team Nebula showed up.

Jaune whispered to Yang as they sat down, "If you want to keep your lungs, I suggest there be no puns today."

Yang looked back at him and winked, "Whatever could you possibly be talking about, Jauney?" She gave him a Cheshire grin before turning back to Professor Port, who was just about to start. A feeling of dread settled into Jaune's stomach as the large professor began.

"Ahem! Good morning students!" the portly man started out. He had a very exuberant way of speaking, seemingly very excited. "Welcome to Grimm Studies. Here you will be learning all about man's eternal enemy: Grimm. No one knows where the Grimm come from, or what motivates them to attack humanity and Faunus alike. Throughout the year I will teach you all about the different species of Grimm, their strengths and weaknesses, habits, characteristics, and, most importantly, how to beat them. Make sure you stay in school, and especially this class, or...you could get eaten by monsters."

The class was surprised, but they didn't have time to think about it very much. Port launched right into his lesson.

"Today we will be starting off with the most basic of all Grimm discovered thus far. Creeps are bipedal creatures and they have no arms. However, their jaws are extremely strong, able to crush rocks. I remember one memorable encounter with a group of these when I was younger. It was just after I had become a huntsman in my own right…"

* * *

Weiss actually found Professor Port's story quite informative. She could tell by looking around that only a few other students had caught on to the professor's method. Ninety percent of the students had their heads down on their desks, sleeping. In front of her, Nora and Yang were engaged in a violent staring contest, Pyrrha was paying attention, but not taking notes, and Blake had only jotted a few things down, probably the important points.

Of her own team, Ruby, no surprise, had fallen asleep in the first five minutes, Ren was paying attention, but Weiss guessed he was just as lost as those who were asleep. Weiss was pleasantly surprised that Jaune was frantically writing as the professor spoke. She had looked over and found something odd. Jaune wasn't drawing a diagram of the creep they were learning about, but rather, a diagram, with arrows and dot strewn about the paper.

"What are you doing!?" Weiss hissed. "This is not time to be playing connect the dots."

Jaune turned his head and Weiss was puzzled to see a gleam of excitement in his eyes. "No! Don't you understand? He's not just giving us the anatomy and habits, he's describing the Grimm's attack patterns and strategy!"

"What?" Weiss questioned, "But Grimm don't have strategy. It's all pack mentality and swarming, a Zerg rush."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jaune exclaimed in an excited whisper, they _were_ still in class after all. "He talked about being surrounded by Creep in multiple situations. Each time he was in the middle of a circle of eight Grimm or less, their attacks, provided he didn't strike first, followed a set pattern!"

Jaune showed her his notebook. It was indeed a circle of eight dots surrounding one circle in the center. He had drawn and numbered arrows from the dots to the center. On the side he had boxed a series of numbers. He showed them to Weiss, "See? The pattern for eight enemies is one, three, eight, seven, six, one, two, five, seven, four, six, three, eight, seven." Weiss was a little dizzy, but Jaune continued, "And each pair of numbers attacks almost at the same time, the first attacks underground and the second attacks above almost immediately afterwards, above ground. This is so the first Creep forces their prey into a jump, so the second one has a sure strike for a hit! It only looks like a rush because they move so fast and fluidly, no one can track all eight of their movements!"

Weiss was stunned. "How'd you do this?"

"I calculated the direction he was facing and the directions attacks came from. I just numbered the enemies and kept track from there!"

Weiss' confusion was interrupted, however, by the booming voice of Professor Port. "Well, are we having an interesting conversation up there, Mr. Arc, Ms. Schnee? Do you have something you'd like to share with the class?"

Weiss was about to reply in the negative, when Jaune spoke up, "Actually, Professor, could you come up here and take a look at something?"

Port's eyebrows noticeably rose in curiosity at this. Not many students payed close attention to his lectures, much less had questions. He strode up to where Jaune and Weiss were seated, Ren nudged Ruby in the side and she awoke with a start. Nora and Yang never broke eye contact. The professor walked up behind Jaune, and accepted the notebook Jaune handed to him.

After a minute of studying Jaune's notebook on silence, Port burst out laughing, "Aha ha ha ha!" The mustachioed man chuckled, "You, young man, are brilliant. I'm sure professor Falke will love you! Keep up the good work, my boy."

He returned Jaune's notebook and returned to the front of the room. Weiss was suitably impressed with Jaune, before she saw him and Ruby concealing laughter over a horrid caricature of their teacher. She gave a small snort of derision as she turned back to the lesson. ' _Esteemed leader and strategist indeed!_ ' The lesson only continued for another few minutes before the bell rang and the students poured out into the hallway.

On the way to Combat, Ren borrowed Jaune's notebook and looked over it. He returned it after some time with a nod of respect. "I'm impressed, Jaune. You managed to figure all this out from Port's stories?"

"Yeah. There were enough examples that I could figure out the eight enemy pattern, but there wasn't enough information to confirm the stratagems for the others. I did get started on them, though." He handed the notebook back to Ren, this time on a different page. Ren continued to absorb Jaune's incomplete plans, until they arrived at Goodwitch's class, which was when the real terror began.

* * *

' _Ok. I am not even joking. Goodwitch is the most terrifying teacher ever!'_ To say Jaune was slightly petrified would be an understatement. He was _all_ the way petrified. They had walked into class expecting a few minutes of conversation before class. They were sorely mistaken. As soon as they stepped foot through the door, they were hit by a wall of silence. They looked up, expecting to be in trouble or something, otherwise, why was it so quiet. But no, their apparent assistant headmistress was perusing her tablet version of a scroll, while the other teams already in the class were sitting and waiting for class to begin.

Without raising her eyes from her screen, Goodwitch said, "Welcome, Team Arsenal. Take a seat."

Jaune and Ruby exchanged a confused, and a little...worried?, glance, before sitting down somewhere in the middle of the room. Ruby looked around and spotted NBVL. She started to wave, but Goodwitch cut her off with a solid "Ahem!" Ruby lowered her hand and Goodwitch began.

"Hello. My name is Professor Goodwitch. I am the deputy headmistress at this school as well as the professor for Combat and Aura Training. Like I said, this is combat class, and, as such, there will be no fooling around. Mistakes and goofing off can get you, the rest of your team, and sometimes others, killed. That being said, when you are in the sparring ring, you will treat your opponent with the utmost respect, and give them a good fight. You are free to use all of your weapon's functionalities as there is an aura dome around the ring that will protect bystanders. Please do not intentionally damage the dome, as that may cause me to severely hurt you. You are free, as well, to make as many uses of your semblance as you wish during combat. Still, try to keep serious harm to a minimum."

"Combat will be between a variety of groups or individuals, depending on the day. You will fight until one side concedes or until you or your opponent's aura drops below fifteen percent. We will not always be doing pure combat. This class is also a place to learn to work with your team and partners. That being said, most days will be individual combat, with team training, and team combat being only one day each a week."

"That is the conclusion to your introduction to Combat. Any questions? No? Good. For today, we will do a one on one spar between partners for simplicity's sake. So, can I have Pyrrha Nikos and and Blake Belladonna go change into their combat gear and be back here in five minutes? Thank you."

Pyrrha and Blake stood up and left to go change. Jaune was interested to see who would win. He had seen Pyrrha fight before, during initiation, and she was very good. However, he didn't know Blake very well, and she could be a match for Pyrrha, he didn't know. Weiss didn't know what to think of Blake. She admired Pyrrha, obviously, for her extreme talents and intelligence. Blake...seemed a little too secretive for her. Usually, when someone is _that_ withdrawn, they're hiding something. Both of their thoughts were interrupted by Blake and Pyrrha walking back into the arena. Goodwitch sent them to opposite ends of the area, and then called for them to begin.

Pyrrha started off by swinging her Akoúo̱ up over her shoulder and pulling Miló from her back in rifle form. She ran left, firing rounds at Blake as she went. Blake responded with the same. She ran, dodging and giving fire in response. As soon as Blake saw this would get her nowhere, she stopped firing and launched herself towards Pyrrha. Pyrrha fell back a step, and prepared to receive Blake, shifting Miló into a sword, and bringing her shield up. Blake landed in front of her in a low crouch. She sprang up in a kick to Pyrrha's face, which was blocked on a shield. Blake ran up Akoúo̱, flipping over and striking with Gambol Shroud from above.

Pyrrha swatted the blade aside with her sword and, spinning around, flung Akoúo̱ into Blake's midsection while she was still in the air. Blake was hit and flew backwards, tumbling once on the ground before returning to her feet in a crouch, left hand bracing on the ground, right arm held out behind her. Pyrrha hurled Miló, in spear form, at Blake, and caught Akoúo̱ as it bounced back to her. Blake jumped towards her opponent, dodging the spear as it flew by her. Before she reached Pyrrha, she flung Gambol Shroud out towards Pyrrha. She held on to the end of a ribbon that was tied to the trigger of Gambol Shroud. Pyrrha brought her shield up, expecting a slice from the blade. It came as a surprise to her when Blake yanked back on the ribbon and shot a fire dust round, point blank, into Akoúo̱.

Pyrrha flew backwards, being knocked off of her feet. She impacted the aura barrier and her shield fell to her side. Blake drew her sword back and lunged for a decisive strike to Pyrrha. To her astonishment, and to the astonishment of the spectators who hadn't seen it coming, Blake was hit sideways by a blindside attack from Pyrrha's spear, Miló. Blake cursed at her blunder, she had even known her partner's semblance! Blake rolled to her feet just in time to see the discus shaped shield flying at her face. She flipped backwards on her hands, leaving behind a shadow clone to take the hit. As soon as she hit the ground again, Pyrrha was upon her. A small exchange later and Blake was lying on the ground, with Miló at her throat.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Belladonna, Ms. Nikos." Goodwitch spoke up. The two girls drew apart. "Ms. Belladonna, that was a finely fought match. Your acrobatic tendencies serve well to avoid hits. Complementing your semblance, this makes you a very difficult target indeed. However, your opening to strike Ms. Nikos made you blind to any other dangers, which led to you getting sideswiped. Also, your close range combat needs improved. Once you had been cornered, Ms. Nikos switched to close range fighting and you were swiftly defeated. Otherwise, very good match."

Blake bowed her head in acknowledgment to the critiques. They were not in malice, simply observed mistakes or shortcomings Blake needed to work on. Ms. Goodwitch continued, "Ms. Nikos, a very good fight as well. Your performance was exemplary, with only one or two issue to look at. Your opener was good to test your opponent's capabilities. After that didn't work, you held out defensively while forcing Ms. Belladonna back, and preparing for a future attack. The only thing lacking was when you were caught off guard by the feint strike. In you confusion to Ms. Belladonna's blade not hitting when you expected, you relaxed your arm as well as your legs. This let you get thrown backwards with the dust round from your opponent. Other than that, a well fought match, girls."

"Thank you, Ms. Goodwitch." The girls replied in unison. They left to go shower and change back into uniform. Ms. Goodwitch turned and spoke to the class, "Now, using what you just saw here, I would like all of you to discuss how Ms. Nikos and Ms. Belladonna would be able to work together against a single, larger opponent."

Jaune gathered his team, and Ren started off the conversation. Their talk ranged from the semblances they saw, to Ruby gushing over the transformative capabilities of Miló and Gambol Shroud. After about thirty minutes of heated discussion, the bell rang and Goodwitch gave them homework to talk with their team later tonight, and familiarize themselves with their teammates' weapons, semblances and, fighting styles.

* * *

"Who's hungry?" Jaune called out excitedly.

Ruby jumped up to high five him, "Yeah!"

Weiss just rolled her eyes and scoffed at their foolishness. How anybody could be so excited about lunch was beyond her. It was just a time to replenish energy, nothing exciting.

They arrived in the lunchroom and got in line. The school served a multiplicity of options, all to sate the wide palate of the Huntsmen and Huntresses attending the school. Weiss simply got a salad, Ren, a fish stir fry. Jaune had a Large sandwich from their sandwich bar, and Ruby was eating a large plate of...cookies?

"Ruby" Jaune spoke up, "if I may ask, why are you eating a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies for lunch?"

"Give it up, Jaune." He looked up to see Yang take a seat at their table, the rest of NBVL behind her. "You'll never get Ruby to stop eating cookies."

"Ner eh est food in da worl!"

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, sis."

 _Gulp_ "I _said,_ they're the best food in the world!"

"Ruby, you can't grow up on a diet of carbs and sugar!"

"I don't need help growing up. I drink milk!"

"Ok then. Ruby, from now on, I, as your team leader, am ordering you to eat a proper meal three times a day. And you may only have _two_ cookies at each meal!"

Ruby simply sat there with her mouth hanging open, the cookie she had stuffed in it falling out.

"Alright, sis. Close your mouth, it's not the end of the world." She leaned over and whispered to Jaune, "Good luck, vomit boy, we've tried this before. The longest she's ever resisted cookie withdrawal was a week."

"Ok, Ruby, two cookies. How many have you had?"

Ruby mumbled something indistinguishable into the table. She had clunked her head down after coming out of her stupor.

"C'mon, Rubes."

Ruby gave a heavy sigh, then whispered, "Four." She then looked back up at Jaune. "But, the thing is, I… don't even know what I would get."

Ren spoke up, "Let's go, Ruby. I'm sure we could find something you'll like." Ren and Ruby stood up and got back in the lunch line, Ren showing Ruby various options. The rest of lunch went rather uneventfully. Ruby, after a further thirty minutes of agonizing indecision, finally sat back down at the table with a plate of spaghetti and meat sauce.

"How is it, sis?"

"Not cookies…" Ruby mumbled sadly through a mouthful of food.

Jaune turned to Yang, "How in the world has she lived until now?"

"Honestly, I have no clue. She's just made of sugar."

The rest of lunch continued rather uneventfully. Ruby managed to make it through the rest of the meal, resisting the siren call of the cookies. Barely.

"Ruby, no!" Jaune shouted, struggling to drag Ruby by her cape away from the temptress cookies.

"Cookies, my love! I will be back for youuuuu!" Finally, Jaune succeeded in towing Ruby out of the room. Weiss followed behind with an icy glare, they were causing a _scene!_ Ren ambled along, indifferent to the whole thing. Living with Nora for seventeen years made you immune to a _lot_ of antics.

* * *

"Ruby Rose, how in the world did you manage to get those?"

They were on their way to Strategy, and Ruby was eating something. More specifically, cookies.

Ruby looked around conspiratorially before leaning over to whisper in Weiss ear. "Don't tell Ren or Jaune, but I have a cookie pocket!" She showed her a little pocket that had been sewn, somehow, into her uniform.

Jaune and Ren looked back from where they were walking and noticed the two girls whispering, which Jaune thought was odd considering Weiss...didn't really seem to like anybody. "What's up, girls?"

Ruby gave a small "eep!" before stuffing the _entire_ cookie in her mouth, and swallowing it, all faster than the boys could _actually see!_

"Nothing!" Ruby replied cheerfully. Weiss just looked on with a supremely stunned expression. Never in all her _life_ had she seen someone literally eat faster than light. She slowly shook her head, supposing such feats would be not so unusual at a huntsmen academy.

They arrived at their strategy class, and were surprised to find the door a little...odd.

"Woah! It's totally teched out!" Ruby exclaimed.

Well, they supposed that was one way of putting it. The rest of the team agreed, she wasn't wrong after all. The double doors were coated in a chrome like metal that almost shone in the light. It held a multiplicity of technological gadgets. Three or four tubes ran on the edges and across the door. The tubes were imbedded in the walls or doors and contained different colors of a weird glowing liquid. Weiss took one look at the tubes and gasped, "Is that liquid dust!?"

Her mouth agape, she continued to look at the door. Along with the tubes, veins of neon green light ran underneath the surface, looking for all the world like some futuristic computer. Although the door looked very technological, it was also very sturdy. Around the edges of the doors was a strip of reinforced steel, with bolts placed every foot.

The teens were startled out of their amazement as the doors slide sideways into the walls. Steam hissed out of the cracks and spilled onto the floor. Jaune suddenly became panicked and looked at Ren in fear.

"If this is what the door looks like, what does the inside look like?"

Ren only looked at Jaune for a minute, before the gears clicked together in his head. He and Jaune both lunged for the open door as the steam settled.

"Ruby!" they shouted simultaneously.

Ruby had taken one look into that room and bolted inside. She had only gotten a couple feet when Jaune and Ren tackled her to the ground. Ruby was continuously trying to escape the boys, wanting only to explore the technology of the room. Weiss stalked into the room. Her disdain for her teammates on the floor was overshadowed by her marvel at the room.

On the back of the doors laid a track with gears inside it that shunted the doors open and closed. Glass canisters sat on the wall to either side of the doors that seemed to be the source of the steam. Tubes led into the bottom of the containers, running off into seemingly nowhere. As they looked from the doors to the room, they were even more astounded. Along the walls there were various weapons and other technological behemoths. Ruby could barely contain herself. Besides the walls, the room was divided into large cubicles with walls made of glass. Some of the glass was opaque, while the other walls were clear. A tall man with tawny hair and a warm smile walked up to him. He was wearing a dark blue suit coat with matching dress pants. He had a white undershirt and a blue necktie that really _tied_ the outfit together.

"Good afternoon, team ARSL." The man greeted them with a smile, "I'm Professor Tobias Falke, the strategy teacher here at Beacon." Gesturing around the room he explained, "Each cubicle here contains a holographic tabletop strategy simulator. I will be coaching your team alone during your class period. However, other teams free to use open simulators during their lunch, free period, or after classes. Any questions?"

Three-quarters of team Arsenal just blinked up at him from the ground. Weiss, seeing this, rolled her eyes and let out a small huff. The professor looked at them with a small frown, "Yes, you should probably get off of the ground."

As Jaune and Ren stood up and brushed off their uniforms, Ruby launched a barrage of questions.

"Are you a technological engineer? Do you like steampunk machinery? Did you build your weapon, too? What to all the machines in here do? Can you show me?"

"Ruby, calm down." Ren scolded, gently. Falke let out a hearty laugh at Ruby's enthusiasm, "No, it's quite all right. If you want to come down here after classes are over I can give you your own private tour."

Ruby's eyes sparkled as she looked up in hope. "Really?" She squeaked out.

The professor simply nodded as he turned and led the team to their own cubicle. Ruby let out a small "yes!", along with a fist pump, as they entered the small room. Falke shut the door behind them and the walls turned opaque, "Everyone, take a seat."

Professor Falke sat down on one side of the table, with Jaune, Weiss, Ren, and Ruby across the from him. "Ok, so, basically this will simulate a situation where you have to act to probably save someone or fight someone else. You will all go through your motions step by step, and so will the computer."

Weiss raised her hand and Falke nodded at her. "So this is just a team or individual encounter played out in slow motion."

"Yes, that would be correct, Ms. Schnee. We will also be discussing possible strategies, why something happened or didn't happen, and what we could have done differently. Now, let's begin."

* * *

"Guys! That table thing is really coool!" Ruby was bouncing all over the place as they walked towards their next class. Ruby had been so smitten with the technology that she had hardly payed attention the entire time. When they left, Ruby promised Professor Falke that she would pay more attention from now on. Falke just thanked her and reminded her to visit later on.

"Ruby, we know, you've been talking about it non-stop for the past ten minutes!"

To say Weiss was a little frustrated with Ruby was an understatement. Weiss, on the first day of class, mind you, was almost ready to strangle the little-! She took a deep breath, and reminded herself that this was _not_ how a Schnee acted and she would _not_ let a little red riding hood get her anger up!

"Watcha doin', Weissy?!" Ruby snapped her out of her musings.

"Ruby Rose! Do _not_ just pop up and scare me like that." Weiss demanded shrilly.

"Oh. Sorry, Weiss." Ruby, looking very downcast, joined back up with Jaune and Ren who were walking ahead of her. Hmph, she had no reason to be "nice" to any of them.

 _Jaune did save your life…_

 _Shut up!_

* * *

Team Arsenal sat in Beacon's first year History class, stunned. This green...blob was zipping back and forth across the classroom. Trying, Weiss presumed and hoped, to teach them an actual history lesson. Finally, he settled down to a much slower mach 1, and started talking in sentences students could actually understand.

"Good afternoon, students." The Professor...er _Doctor_ spoke in a very quick but precise voice. "My name is Bartholomew Oobleck, and I am _not_ " he proclaimed loudly, "a professor." Yang spoke up from where she was sitting with her team in the back of the class, "Ok, professor." Nora giggled at this until Oobleck seemingly teleported over next to them. Leaning down a little he just looked at them, as if studying them. Finally, he straightened back up, "See me after class."

Yang sat a tiny bit stunned as the green haired doctor resumed his introduction. Before long, he was into his first lesson. Jaune however, couldn't even keep up with Oobleck, much less take notes. He looked over and was surprised to see Ruby's hand a blur as she took notes on sheet after sheet of paper. Jaune just looked at Ren in confusion until Ren just mouthed 'speed semblance'. Nodding in understanding, Jaune asked Ruby if he could make a copy of her notes when she was done. After Ruby gave him a perky "Sure!", Jaune leaned back and listened to their professor ramble on.

After class, Weiss had, very haughtily, asked Ruby if she could make a copy of her notes as well. Ruby had looked at Jaune who just shrugged, before turning back and giving her a big smile and a cheerful little "Yep!"

Both teams made their way to Goodwitch's classroom for their last class of the day, aura training.

"Heya, Rubes. How was your first day here at big ol' Beacon?"

"Yaaannng! It's your first day toooo!"

"I know, I know. But I'm still your big sis'!"

"It was pretty good, I guess. Professor Falke had the greatest stuff!"

Yang just smiled as her 'baby sister' went into full geek mode, happy that she was having fun.

"Renny! I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever!_ " Nora yelled as she jumped on his back on their way to class. Ren didn't even stagger under the impact, years of Nora Training making his leg and back muscles well up to the challenge. Ren replied with, "Nora...it's only the first day."

"Well, Yeah, but between _lunch_ and all the _classes._ Ooh! And we had this thing that happened in Strategy today…"

Pyrrha and Blake were conversing about their earlier match, as well as the...odd… history teacher they had. That left Jaune and Weiss trailing behind the others, awkwardly silent.

"So, er, Weiss." Jaune started out. Weiss merely raised an eyebrow at his awful attempts at striking a conversation. He continued, "What do you think of Beacon so far."

Weiss was surprised, it was a half decent question, leaving lots of room for answer and therefore taking the conversation in any direction. She paused before answering, choosing her words carefully, "I...am not disappointed. There are many things that I find lacking, such as the questionable partnering methods, as well as the...eccentricities...of some of the Professors here. But all in all, I am satisfied with the possibilities of my time here at Beacon. While I understand your combat abilities are proficient, I am a little worried by the more energetic member of ur team."

Jaune frowned, "Weiss, you can't judge Ruby based on one event."

Weiss stopped walking and turned towards Jaune. "She froze me with a _sneeze!"_

"That doesn't mean she's incapable or incompetent!"

"It means I want to avoid her as much as possible!"

"Well, you can't do that!"

Jaune shouted this last statement, causing the rest of their gang to look back, and Weiss to adopt a stunned look on her face. She couldn't believe it! This lowlife dared to boss her around? She would show him! She turned to give a sharp rebuttal to the plebeian who thought he was in charge. When she turned she was surprised to find Jaune leaned in close to her face. He had a dark look that she didn't think was possible on the perpetually cheery face. Weiss shuddered involuntarily.

Jaune glared at her, "Listen here, Weiss." He didn't speak loud but he had a steely quality in his voice, he was not to be disobeyed. "I am the leader of this team, and as the leader I am responsible for the safety of the three of you. That also means that I am in charge of you, and you _will_ _not_ degrade or insult Ruby because of anything. We are _all_ on this team and you will act like it! I do not like speaking like this but I will act like a leader if I have to."

Weiss was stunned and a little afraid, she had expected Jaune to be an easy pushover of a leader. But she saw the iron in his eyes and knew he was not inexperienced. It made her wonder just what had he been involved in? Nevertheless, she wouldn't be bossed around. She screwed up her courage and was about to speak when Jaune cut her off.

"Halt den Mund!" He barked.

Weiss flinched and shied away from the outburst. Jaune immediately softened and realized that she was genuinely scared. He tried to hold her, intent on supplying some comfort, when Weiss pushed him away and just ran. She rushed past the rest of her friends, tears streaming down her face. The others looked on in concern. Ruby spoke up,

"Is...is everything ok, Jaune."

Jaune sighed heavily and looked down before replying, "No, not really."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! Whew, that took a while to write. Although I finished later than expected, this is still the second chapter this month! And it's almost 7k! All around exciting. Sorry for the depressing ending, but that felt like a good place to stop.**

 **I would like to propose a contest! This is to all you artists out there. I really wanted to draw Prof. Falke's door, but couldn't think of anything. So I will submit a template to my account (in a URL link) of his door. Or you can make your own, it doesn't really matter. You can then design and email your door ideas to me at hudsonstouffer9696  Make sure you put something in the subject so I know it's for this. I will pick the winner in a month or two, and the winner will be mentioned on my story. The real grand prize will be that I will allow them to email me one question about the future of the fanfiction. If I don't deem it too spoiler-y I will answer it completely truthfully. I really hope a bunch participate. I know I have a lot of readers. Seriously, there's over 700! So I hope you all participate!**

 **Thanks a lot! If you enjoyed, leave a review! If you had a problem, leave a _kind_ review. Thanks a bunch! Raenstorm Alaguiel out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! I take a really long time at writing! Sorry for the wait. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, even if it ended on a little bit of a sad note. A big thank you to all those who sent in review! They really give me a motivation boost and tells me what you guys like to see. So keep sending those reviews my way! The door contest is still on, I received a couple of entries and I'd love if more of you sent in drawings or however you decide to do it.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 6 of** **An Arc of White Snowflakes!**

 **Life Advice: Don't write bad chapters**

* * *

Weiss simply ran.

Feelings of helplessness and shame flooded her body.

A darkness she hated slammed into her mind, her memory.

She whispered, "No…" Almost crying. She had ended up back at her dorm. Slamming the door open she burst into the room. Terror, almost.

The first day. She couldn't believe it. Already.

Thought she was stronger. One shout.

Two hard faces overlap. Blonde and White. Softening...or not.

Her happy place. Her _safe_ place.

* * *

Jaune had urged team Nebula to go to class, he promised them he would take care of it.

Ruby sat in shock, torn between chasing after Weiss who had looked terrified, and staying to comfort Jaune who looked absolutely downtrodden. Even Ruby could tell that Jaune was regretting blowing up at Weiss, having no clue it would have the reaction it did.

Ruby spoke up hesitantly, "Jaune? You know it's not your fault, right?"

Jaune just sighed. "It really is. I was too harsh on Weiss. I...was in another time."

Even Ren looked slightly surprised at this statement. "Jaune, I suggest we find Ms. Schn-er...Weiss. Whatever the cause, the situation still needs resolved."

Jaune looked a little miserable, but still nodded all the same. Ruby, using her semblance, sprinted on ahead to go and find Weiss. She headed for the dorm room as that was the most likely place for her to be. She burst into the door and stopped in her tracks, flabbergasted at what lay before her.

On the floor was a white glowing ball. Upon closer inspection, she could see the intricate markings that littered the sphere. She had seen Weiss fight the Lirym, and so she knew the basics of her semblance, glyphs. Ruby was astounded to find a ball made entirely of glyphs sitting on the floor of their dorm. And she could guess who was inside.

"Weiss" Ruby said, "I know you're in there." She waited for a minute but only heard the soft sounds of sobbing coming from the ball. Ruby didn't know what to do, so she did what her mom had always done for her, she started singing.

"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest." she started singing, "White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test. Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow beauty burns….gold." As the sound of Ruby's voice lilted and rang throughout the room, patches of glyphs began to dissolve around Weiss' cage. Finally, after several minutes of Ruby serenading the sobbing heiress, Weiss lay on the ground, devoid of any glyphs. Ruby gently crawled over to her and pulled the slightly taller girl onto her lap.

Ruby only acted like Yang used to act towards her. She held her, simply stroking her hair and shushing the poor girl. She didn't quite know what had happened, all she cared about was comforting the crying girl in front of her.

Jaune and Ren eventually burst into the room. By that time, Weiss was sound asleep on Ruby's lap, exhausted from the emotional turmoil she had just been through.

"Thank you, Ruby. I can take over now, she's my partner."

Ruby didn't say anything, merely letting Jaune pick up the surprisingly lithe girl. ' _She's light for how much of an attitude she has_.' Jaune thought, though not unkindly. He gently carried her over and placed her on her bed, grateful that it was the bottom one, climbing the ladder with her would have been difficult. He pulled the covers up over her, and took a seat beside the bed.

"You two should head to class, explain why you're late and why Weiss and I won't be there."

"Jaune, we can stay." Ren stated calmly.

"No, it's fine. I know she's your teammate, but she's my partner and she probably won't want everybody here when she wakes up." Ruby and Ren nodded in understanding before gathering their things and heading to class.

Jaune shook his head, upset that he had somehow hurt her in just the right way to make her, the proud heiress, collapse into a sobbing mess. ' _Weiss, I-I'm...I'm so sorry.'_

* * *

Weiss slowly opened her eyes. She could feel weariness and aching throughout her body. It took her a while before she remember what had happened. She had broken down, the shout from Jaune unintentionally dredging up memories she would rather forget about.

She supposed she shouldn't be surprised at the pain in her limbs and head, considering she cried herself to sleep on the floor. Although she didn't understand how she had gotten here. This was her bed, she could clearly see the bottom of Jaune's bunk hanging above her. Her memory was blurry after she had hidden in her shell, a necessity she had formed...from something she'd, again, rather forget.

"It's good to see you're awake."

She turned her head and was surprised to see Jaune sitting next to her bed, quietly staring at the wall, contemplating.

"I...why are you here?"

Jaune paused a moment before answering. Still not looking at her, he replied "I wasn't here earlier, when I yelled at you. I was...in another time and another place."

Weiss was surprised by this, but didn't show it. "What do you mean?"

Jaune sighed "I was in a different organization before I attended beacon. I did some things that I was proud of, and...some things I wasn't so proud of. I can't really tell you more, it's a little bit of a secret. Just...during that time you learned to be hard. Or you didn't survive long."

"I...see." Weiss was surprised and curious about the knight's now mysterious past, but she chose not to pry.

"Weiss, I'm sorry that my outburst affected you so much."

"No, I...It wasn't you. It was just something that I've dealt with before."

Weiss and Jaune just sat their, admittedly a little awkwardly, but sat there nonetheless. Jaune reluctantly broke the silence, "Weiss, we need to talk." He sat up and turned to face Weiss. "This started because you...decided that you weren't a part of this team."

Weiss looked a bit affronted at this statement, but in the back of her mind she knew this was true, she had denied her teammates in every way that made them a team.

"If you want to be a part of this team, then you need to act like you are. We are a _team_ , and that means that everybody is equal. You can't look down on Ruby because she's younger. You can't ignore me as leader because you don't deem me worthy. You have to accept that things are as they are, or you can leave."

Weiss was a bit stunned, she hadn't even considered being rejected from her team. No, she reconsidered, so far it was just the people she had been living with, not her team. If she wanted to really be a part of this team, they had to see each other as equals, not as a superior forced to deal with what they deemed lower class.

Weiss took a deep breath before replying, "Alright, I'll do my best to be a part of the team."

Jaune just smiled and something in Weiss stirred, but she didn't recognize it.

The two of them just sat there in silence, the quiet almost luring Weiss back to sleep. Suddenly, Ruby burst through the door and rushed over to Weiss.

"Ohmygosh, areyouok?!"

Weiss was momentarily stunned by Ruby's speed, and surprisingly, her caring. She could barely believe that Ruby was being this kind when she had treated her so poorly. Ruby wrapped her arms around the startled heiress and snuggled her head into her side. Weiss' back stiffened at the unexpected contact. Jaune saw her open her mouth, pause, and then relax into the bed and into Ruby's hug. He even saw Ren's eyes widen at the unusual action.

Weiss spoke up, uncharacteristically soft and hesitant for her usual tone, "I'm fine, Ruby. I...I appreciate your kindness."

Ruby said something unintelligible into Weiss side.

"Ruby, get off of Weiss, I think she's fine." Ren said.

She slowly let go of Weiss and dropped to the floor, just sitting and smiling at Weiss.

"I'm just glad you're ok."

"But...why? I haven't been anything but mean to you."

Ruby looked like she was momentarily confused, like it was a stupid question, before replying with a big smile on her face. "Silly, teams are like family, we always support each other, even if we disagree sometimes."

Jaune was surprised at the startlingly perceptive insight from Ruby, and Ren just smiled softly. Weiss just gave a small smile and a sigh.

* * *

The next morning was not pleasant. They had stayed up late last night, consisting of a large amount of simple conversation about any topic that came to mind, with even Weiss participating every once in awhile. This had led to everyone falling asleep at interspersed periods, leading to one forgotten thing.

"Hey, uh, Weiss?" Ruby poked Weiss' cheek hesitantly. "Um...It's like, almost nine and I thought-"

Weiss jumped out of bed with shock in her eyes and sprinted to the bathroom. Ruby, startled at the sudden action, fell on her butt beside Weiss' bed. Jaune jolted awake at the sound of the door slamming. He sat up and looked confusedly at Ren and Ruby who were rushing around the room. Well, Ruby was rushing, Ren had seemingly, magically, gotten dressed in about two minutes, and was now sitting calmly and reading by the desk that had been provided.

"Jaune, time." Ren said. Jaune blearily glanced over at the (surprise!) bunny shaped clock on his nightstand. His eyes widened as he saw the time. He jumped out of bed and ran over to his closet and got his stuff. No _way_ wanting to get dressed in front of Ruby (awk-ward!), he ran over to the bathroom and flung open the door, not hearing Ruby's shout as she realized exactly what was just about to happen.

Weiss had been rushing through her bathroom routine, even disregarding her usual time and care spent on her precious hair. She had simply jumped in the shower, rinsed and conditioned, and then jumped out. She hadn't even bothered with the plethora of care products that were strewn about the room. She had just gotten out the shower with a towel wrapped around her when the door was flung wide open.

Jaune had flung the door open and was about to rush in when he noticed something, the room was warm, like someone had just...showered. Realization came too late as he looked up to see a lithe, pale body standing in the bathroom. He barely had time to register this before a piercing scream split the air.

Face flushed like a firestorm, Weiss let out a startled scream of embarrassment. Raising a single hand, while making sure to keep herself well covered, she created a propulsion glyph between herself and Jaune. Flicking her wrist, the glyph activated, sending Jaune flying backwards out of the room. Weiss couldn't _believe_ the nerve of this...this... _hooligan!_ He had dared to barge into the room to spy on her _naked_!

Ruby watched, startled as Jaune flew backwards out of the bathroom. Clothes falling out of his arms along the way, he slammed into the opposite wall of their dorm, creating a Jaune sized dent. She heard the bathroom door slam as she rushed over to check on Jaune. She knelt down by his side and helped him sit up.

"Ya know, Jaune," Ruby said with wry smile on her face, "you should probably _knock_ before barging into the bathroom.

Jaune just slumped back down against the wall, "You don't say."

Ren just sat by the desk, looking to be reading, but silently watching with an almost imperceptible smile upon his face.

* * *

Team ARSL skid to a stop just outside of the door to Port's room. They opened the door and slowly walked in. At their entrance, the professor called out in his jovial tone. "Ah! Good to see you've decided to attend class today! If I may ask why you were late?"

Jaune was about to explain the situation when Ruby spoke up. "Sorry. I...kinda got us lost." She rubbed the back of her head in fake sheepishness.

"Well…" Port said, considering, "I suppose I can give you a pass this once. It is only your second day after all." He turned back to the class, allowing Jaune, Weiss, Ruby, and Ren to find seats near the middle, next to team NBVL.

Yang leaned over as they sat down. "So, what held you guys up? All we could hear as we left was the sound of something hitting the wall."

Jaune felt his face go warm as he struggled to keep a straight face. Weiss just stared straight down as she struggled to keep her own flaming face in check. Yang couldn't _believe_ the reactions she was getting! This was going to be _good_!

"So, judging by these two," Yang said, grinning and gesturing to Weiss and Jaune, "something very...interesting...must have happened. Care to spill?"

Ren didn't say a word as Ruby naïvely started on the story. "Well, we woke up late, and Weiss ran to the bathroom and then Jau-!" Jaune quickly reached over and put a hand over her mouth. Ruby, at first, tried to keep talking and then tried to pull his hand off of her mouth. She couldn't, and Jaune removed his hand from her mouth.

"Nothing happened! Nothing! It was fine! Hehe…" Jaune tried to reassure team Nebula.

Yang only gave a sceptical look as she whispered to Jaune, "I will find out, and I will never let you forget it."

Jaune noticed Ruby's terrified look at these words. "Ruuuuby...why do you look like you've seen a ghost."

Ruby just swallowed and looked at Jaune with haunted eyes. "Jaune," She said slowly, "You have _no idea_ what that phrase means. She _will_ hunt you forever, that's not an exaggeration."

Yang just smiled ferally, and a little ball of dread settled into the pit of Jaune's stomach.

* * *

The day passed quickly. Before Jaune even realized it, it was time for their Strategy 1-on-1. They approached the giant techno-behemoth of a door, Ruby still being all excited for the tech they were about to use. The door again hissed open and they walked over to the cubicle they'd be using, the walls in block stripes of yellow, white, red, and green, denoting their individual color schemes.

As they settled down, Falke explained their set up for the day.

"So, here's what's going on. You all are going to be scanned using these here FPM's - Fighting Proficiency Monitors." He gestured to a row of four holographic tables set up in the cubicle. Each table was hooked up to a metallic circlet that also fed into a tablet version of a scroll placed next to each Holotable.

Falke explained. "These circlets are hooked up to receive signals from your brain. In short, you will be controlling a miniaturized version of yourself in a simulated fight. You will think of how you would respond to a situation and the Holotables will simulated your response and the FPM's will monitor and record your individual capabilities and statistics, and send them to the main database. Then, whenever we would use the Holotables later, you won't have to wear the circlets every time you want to do something. The database will know whether you are able to perform a certain action or not, and will act accordingly."

Weiss looked was suitably impressed, Jaune even noticed her eyebrows raise and her eyes widen in surprise when the professor mentioned the brain signal receiving function. And even though Jaune hadn't known Weiss that long, he _did_ know her well enough that he could tell she was _extremely_ impressed.

Each of them sat down and Falke started the simulation and dividers rose up between each table so they could only focus on the task at hand. On the leftmost table a miniature Jaune rose up, however, without any weapons. Jaune focused just a little bit and a white glow engendered in both of his hands, forming his weapons just like in real life. He practiced moving his avatar around the wooded area he had ended up in. He had spawned in a clearing in the middle of a decently wooded area. The slight aerial view gave him about a thirty foot scale radius of sight.

Jaune wandered a bit and saw a couple wooden targets jutting out of the ground. He shifted Crocea Mors into the crossbow on his left arm, took aim, and fired. The razor sharp blade entered the rightmost target, cut straight through the back and hit the next target in line as the boomerang returned to him. Jaune smiled, satisfied that his avatar had weapons that were just as good as his real ones.

Jaune saw a few beowolves approach from behind his avatar. He turned around and began to fight.

* * *

"I have to say, I am rather impressed with the way the Holotable depicted such realistic movements." Ren stated as they walked through the door and into the hallway.

"I know! It was sooooo coool!" Jaune swore he could almost see little stars in her eyes as she fangirled over the technology."

Weiss gave a derisive snort, at both Ren's comment and, in her eyes, Ruby's absolutely appalling mannerisms. "Hmph! That machine did not do my abilities justice! It wouldn't let me do half the things I would have been able to do in a real fight."

Jaune looked at Ren and they exchanged a knowing look. During the simulation, while Ruby had been too absorbed by the sight of her own, pixelated awesomeness, Jaune and Ren had both leaned over to see what had happened to Weiss after a small screech was heard from her table. Apparently, the heiress was attempting one of the many combos she had known, finishing up with a glyph empowered dash towards an enemy. Unfortunately, the beowolf had dodged, leaving a surprised Weiss to plunge her rapier halfway into the tree that it had been standing right in front of. As the grimm turned around with a backhand strike, Weiss didn't even panic. Unfazed, she whirled around to deliver a swift jab to the creature's abdomen, only...when she spun around, she found that she didn't actually...have her sword in her hand. Shock adorned her features as she watched her avatar struggle to pull the sword out of the tree. The actual Weiss was too surprised to do anything but watch as the beowolf completed the swing. She watched as her character was knocked to the ground and the eviscerated, shattering in a burst of pixels.

"It's okay, Weiss." Jaune said, done reminiscing. "It's okay to get _stuck_ on a certain issue. You just need the _strength_ to figure it out."

Weiss spun around, just now realizing that Jaune had seen that embarrassing debacle. Her face slowly flushed red as she stuttered for a retort.

"Don't be ashamed, Weiss. After all, you did give a _tree_ mendous effort."

Desperate, Weiss looked at Ruby's wide eyed face. She almost collapsed in relief as she noticed her confused expression.

Ruby was taken aback by the odd look Weiss gave her. "Uh, I really don't get what's going on."

She became even more confused after Jaune and Ren exchanged one last look, and Jaune burst out laughing. Even Ren had a smile on his face. Weiss straightened her back and turned around, not trusting herself to show her bright red face to them. She couldn't believe that those...those _dunces_ had seen that embarrassment. Her father had drilled into to her from a young age, _Never let other people see you as anything but your best, Weiss. You will only bring dishonor to the Schnee name._

 _Well,_ she thought, _It's a little late for that now, but I'll still try my best._

After her face had returned to normal, she spun back around to face the rest of her team. "Now, if the two of you are done goofing off," She glared at Ren and Jaune who each blanched in turn. "I, for one, would like to study. So, if any of you _jokers_ want to disturb me…" Weiss left the threat to the others imagination as she twirled around, skirt spinning, and marched away with her nose in the air. Jaune couldn't help but sigh internally as she left. He had tried to get her to see that she was part of a team, and he thought she had seen his point. Given that, he tried to include her in the team, like they were all friends, and Jaune thought that a little ribbing would make her relax.

 _Well, I guess there are some things that a Schnee will just have to be stubborn on. Apparently, her pride is one of them._

* * *

 **Well I'm really sorry that this chapter feels like garbage to me. I wanted to get something out, but...meh. I need a reset to start the next chapter. Sorry for the wait.**

 **On a side note, I'm still looking for entries for the drawing contest. Full details are in the A/N: of the last chapter. Submit entries to** **hudsonstouffer9696** **and list fanfiction as the subject. Thanks! And now I realize that I never put up the template...ok then, well it's up now.**

 **As usual Read and Review. Raenstorm out!**


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